Newswatch 2010-08-30

WAL-MART SEEKS HIGH COURT REVIEW

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Circuit Court ruling subjecting the retailer to a massive class-action discrimination lawsuit. “In our petition, we point out that this case involves important issues about class-action procedure and Title VII, and that the Ninth Circuit's opinion contradicts numerous decisions of other appellate courts and even the Supreme Court itself,” Wal-Mart said in a statement. The circuit court ruling in April allowed a class-action suit representing as many as 1.5 million women workers who may have been denied equal pay and promotion opportunities.

MARSH NO LONGER FOR SALE: REPORT

INDIANAPOLIS — The investor that owns Marsh Supermarkets has taken the retailer off the sales block, reports said last week. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, Sun Capital Partners, the Florida-based hedge find that acquired Marsh in 2006, put the chain up for sale late last year but did not receive adequate offers to buy. Marsh here never publicly acknowledged that it was for sale.

SHOPPERS TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS

LANHAM, Md. — Shoppers Food & Pharmacy said it would move its corporate headquarters to Bowie, Md., in October, approximately 10 miles east from its facilities here. The company said it would occupy 25,000 square feet of office space in the new Maryland Science and Technology Center, a 466-acre business campus. “Bowie is at the heart of our operations and this moves brings our store support operations much closer to the locations where we do the most business,” Dick Bergman, president of Shoppers, said in a statement. Shoppers is a division of Supervalu, Minneapolis.

KROGER, VA. WORKERS OK CONTRACT

ROANOKE, Va. — Kroger workers represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 204 here have voted to ratify a new contract, the Cincinnati-based retailer said last week. The deal covers 2,000 associates working at 18 Kroger stores in the Roanoke region. Jay Cummins, Kroger's Mid-Atlantic division president, said the pact provides “one of the best total compensation packages in our industry.”

TWO MINNESOTA LOCALS TO MERGE

SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn. — Two Minnesota-based sister locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers have voted to approve a merger. Effective Sept. 1, UFCW 789 here and UFCW 1189 in Duluth, Minn., will merge to form Local 1189, comprising 12,000 members in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. The union said Don Seaquist, president of Local 789, would be president of the combined group, which represents workers at retailers including Cub Foods, Byerly's and Rainbow Foods.

EX-WEGMANS WORKER PLEADS GUILTY

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A former Wegmans Food Markets supervisor has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing nearly $21,000 from the retailer by fraudulently activating gift cards. According to a complaint filed by federal authorities, Sean Stockdale, a worker at various Wegmans locations in New Jersey, between 2006 and 2008 activated 141 gift cards by creating false negative balances at store cash registers by ringing up returns, then resolving the negative balance by issuing store and third-party gift cards to himself.