ST. PAUL, Minn. — Workers at an Aldi store here will vote next month on whether to be represented by a union, published reports said. The vote could result in the first unionized U.S. store for the Batavia, Ill.-based retailer.

http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/aldi-workers-vote-union-report

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Labor talks in Northern California are continuing to drag on, with most discussions centering on health and welfare benefits, a union spokesman told SN Wednesday.

"That's the big bear in the room," Mike Henneberry, representing United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5, said.

Local 5, along with UFCW Local 8, based in Sacramento, is continuing to negotiate separately with Raley's, Safeway and Save Mart Supermarkets, whose contracts expired last October. Save Mart's contract extension expired Tuesday, and the chain has declined to extend it further, Henneberry said.


More
http://supermarketnews.com/latest-news/benefits-dominate-calif-labor-talks

The Los Angeles City Council has voted to move forward with a controversial ban on single-use plastic grocery bags – a move designed to reduce landfill waste and debris in local waterways.

The vote was greeted by supporters as a major step for the environment, while critics say it's an example of regulatory overreach that will limit consumer choices and cost jobs.

Los Angeles will become the largest city in the United States to impose a plastic-bag ban, with some 7,500 affected stores and nearly 4 million residents. The city council vote, which took place Wednesday, sets in motion a months-long process including an environmental review, enactment of an ordinance, and a phase-in period that affects larger stores first, according to news reports.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0524/Los-Angeles-to-become-largest-US-city-banning-plastic-bags

The Times-Picayune, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, announced on Thursday a plan to slash its print publication to three days a week—effectively leaving New Orleans without a daily newspaper.
As part of the move, the New York Times reports that there will be "massive" layoffs at 175-year-old Times-Picayune as the paper focuses its efforts on NOLA.com. The Newhouse family, which owns Advance Publications, the Times-Picayune's parent company, shuttered the Ann Arbor News in similar fashion in 2009.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/orleans-soon-no-longer-daily-newspaper-153740196.html

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- Another judge has ruled that the St. Louis red light cameras are unconstitutional. Circuit Judge Theresa Burke ruled the city’s tickets violate the driver’s right to due process. She threw out the case against State Senator Jim Lembke.

Attorney Bevis Schock represented Lembke and says this is just further proof the cameras should not be allowed.

A previous ruling by Circuit Judge Mark Neil also cited due process as reason the red light cameras are unconstitutional. But Judge Neil’s ruling went farther saying there is no state legislation that grants the cities the right to use red light cameras. That ruling is now being appealed by the city to the Court of Appeals.

More at
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Judge-rules-against-St-Louis-red-light-cameras-153332705.html

Maybe this will be the start of a trend

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway here has reached an agreement with a union local that resulted in the reinstatement of a meat clerk who had been suspended last month after intervening in a physical altercation between a man and a pregnant woman, according to the union.

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 said Wednesday the agreement resolves a grievance filed by the union on behalf of Ryan Young and includes back pay and benefit coverage along with reinstatement.

Ron Lind, president of Local 5, said, "While Safeway has legitimate policies and concerns around workplace violence and the appropriate employee response, once the company heard our presentation of the case, management realized the suspension was not appropriate and immediately worked with us to resolve the grievance and put Ryan back to work."

Safeway officials could not be reached for comment.

more at http://supermarketnews.com/safeway/safeway-reinstates-suspended-employee

Great news in the ongoing fight for working families: a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has overturned the questionable union election that took place last year at the Valley Stream Target in Long Island. Citing unfair labor practices, the judge's decision means a new and fair election will be held.

Unsurprisingly, Target still denies that it intimidated workers for months leading up to the vote.

The Valley Stream workers seeking to join Local 1500 would have been Target's first employees with a union voice on the job. With 1,700 stores, Target should set an example for American businesses by honoring its employees' right to stick together for better jobs. Target has consistently failed to schedule its its employees with enough hours, and as it grows as a corporation, it's not sharing that success with its workers.

Workers have stuck together for a long time against Target's anti-worker agenda, and now a judge has finally ruled in their favor. Hopefully this decision to overturn last year's election is the first step towards ensuring Target does not continue down the low-road path that Walmart has taken.


http://ufcw.blogspot.com/2012/05/nlrb-overturns-union-election-at-valley.html

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the largest teachers’ retirement fund in the country and known as CalSTRS, filed an important lawsuit this month against 27 current and past executives and directors of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest employer.

The case alleges widespread corruption and bribery at the company’s Mexican subsidiary. Last week, the company said it was expanding an internal inquiry to include other subsidiaries. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have begun parallel inquiries. This suit, along with those investigations, could help ensure that the company reckons with what it did wrong and fixes its broken corporate governance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/opinion/the-wal-mart-corruption-case.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120522

Of course if they really wanted to get Wal Mart's attention, they could simply divest themselves of those stock holdings.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores plans to install solar panels on top of more than half of its roughly 50 Massachusetts stores as early as August, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

The installations for 27 stores are still in the engineering phase, and local permits must be obtained, the report said. The projects will be capable of generating about 10.5 megawatts of energy — from 10% to 15% of each store’s power needs.

http://supermarketnews.com/top-75-retailers-amp-wholesalers/wal-mart-plans-solar-panels-mass

While no fan of Wal Mart, this is indeed a good move on their part.

DENVER — Around 15,000 workers at King Soopers, Safeway, Albertsons, Smith Foods and City Market stores in Colorado and Wyoming have ratified a two-year contract extension, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 here said Wednesday.

“This extension will result in bringing security and stability to our members during these hard economic times,” Kim Cordova, Local 7 president, said in a statement. “We succeeded in stabilizing the health benefits for our members by negotiating an additional $11 million in employer contributions.”

Local 7 members participated in more than 58 ratification meetings in cities throughout Colorado and Wyoming.

http://supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/denver-union-approves-contract-extension

Hopefully good news