N.J. Stores, Union Reach 11th-Hour Agreement
rcial Workers Union Local 1262 here and Pathmark, ShopRite, Stop & Shop and Foodtown came to a tentative agreement hours before a strike deadline set for early last week. The new contract covers 28,000 supermarket employees at approximately 240 New Jersey stores, the largest UFCW bargaining unit with a contract scheduled to expire this year. "We're very pleased with this agreement as it represents a mutually beneficial package. Both sides worked very hard to deliver a package that meets the contemporary needs of associates as well as the competitive needs of the supermarket industry," said Mary Ellen Gowin, spokeswoman for the supermarket companies.
Supervalu FinisheS Restructuring Network
MINNEAPOLIS -- Supervalu here said it is "essentially finished" restructuring its distribution network with the announcement last week that it will close a distribution center in Keene, N.H. That facility, which has been focused on filling orders for Kmart Corp., Troy, Mich., will be closed later this year, as Supervalu phases out its supply arrangements with Kmart, a chain spokeswoman told SN. The distributor has previously disclosed plans to close distribution centers in Greenville, Ky., Hammond, La., and Great Falls, Mont., to shut down the grocery portion of its Atlanta facility, and to sell facilities in Perryman, Md., and Suffield, Conn., to Fleming, Dallas, the company that will become Kmart's sole grocery distributor in June. "At that point, our closings will be essentially finished," the spokeswoman said.
