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Mix-Ansicht- Uups, so langsam fängt der Man von der Straße an sich zu wehren? - XERXES, 21.11.2002, 17:41
Uups, so langsam fängt der Man von der Straße an sich zu wehren?
-->Demonstrators to target Wal-Mart
They'll call for better benefits, pay at non-union stores
By TOM DAYKIN
Last Updated: Nov. 20, 2002
When placard-toting demonstrators converge Thursday at Wal-Mart stores in Wisconsin and other states, they'll demand that the world's largest retailer raise wages, improve health care benefits and stop alleged bullying of workers who want to join unions. Watching from the sidelines, perhaps silently cheering them on, will be the nation's unionized supermarkets, including Wisconsin chains such as Pick 'n Save, Jewel-Osco and Kohl's Food Stores.
Wal-Mart's relentless drive to build supercenters - combined supermarket and discount stores - is taking a bigger share of the nation's grocery dollars from traditional supermarkets. Many old-line operators have union work forces, and their employees receive better pay and benefits than their Wal-Mart counterparts, according to industry observers.
As a result, unionized supermarkets are finding it more difficult to compete with Wal-Mart. And the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union's 1.4 million members are concerned that their jobs will continue to slip away to non-union stores.
"They pose a tangible threat to our employers," said Daniel Welch, president of Local 1444, which has about 12,000 active members in southern Wisconsin."It's important for us to level the playing field between Wal-Mart and our employers."
Wal-Mart says it provides competitive wages and benefits. The company's low-price marketing strategy is not tied to Wal-Mart's compensation of its employees, including 22,700 Wisconsin workers, spokesman Bill Wertz said.
What's not disputed is Wal-Mart's force within the supermarket industry.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. owns 3,371 stores in the United States, including 1,243 supercenters. Wal-Mart's annual revenue, including its 1,227 foreign stores, reached $220 billion last year.
Wal-Mart's estimated 2001 supercenter grocery sales were $20 billion in the United States, according to trade publication Supermarket News. That will continue to grow, with Wal-Mart opening 200 to 210 supercenters next year, compared with just 45 to 55 new discount stores.
The company rolled out the supercenter format in 1988 to meet the growing demand for one-stop shopping. In Wisconsin, Wal-Mart has opened 19 supercenters since 1997, Wertz said; more than 20 supercenters are under development or in the planning stages.
None of Wal-Mart's 1.1 million U.S. employees is covered by union contracts, despite numerous efforts by the United Food and Commercial Workers.
The average Wal-Mart worker makes $7.50 to $8.50 an hour and works about 32 hours a week, according to international union spokesman Greg Denier, citing paycheck stubs provided by the company's employees. The international union says Wal-Mart's family health insurance coverage has an average monthly premium of $151 - about 14% to 16% of average monthly wages.
Wertz didn't know if the pay figures cited by the union are accurate because Wal-Mart doesn't compile a national average on wages, which he said are based on local market conditions. Family health insurance monthly premiums range from $114 to $236, depending on the type of insurance plan.
Union officials are"pulling numbers out of the air" to create an adverse comparison between Wal-Mart and its competitors, Wertz said."We have to offer a competitive package of benefits to attract the kind of people we need for our stores as we grow throughout the country."
A huge advantage
Most United Food and Commercial Workers members who work in supermarkets, including members of Local 1444, pay nothing for their health insurance, Welch said. Union members at Kohl's Food Stores Inc. earn from $6.50 to $12.75 an hour, a range typical of Local 1444's contracts.
The health insurance and pension plans mandated by union contracts give Wal-Mart's non-union supercenters a huge competitive advantage, said consultant Burt Flickinger of Reach Marketing in Westport, Conn.
The wage and benefit gap between Wal-Mart and other supermarket chains"is the single-largest competitive advantage Wal-Mart has," said Gary Giblen, senior vice president at C.L. King & Associates, a New York investment research firm.
Executives at Safeway Inc., one of the nation's largest supermarket operators, told analysts that their labor costs run about 10% higher than Wal-Mart's, Giblen said. Safeway's stores include the Chicago chain Dominick's, which is being put up for sale.
Wal-Mart's lower labor costs, combined with its distribution efficiencies and ability to negotiate low prices with its merchandise suppliers, allow the supercenters to generally win the price war with traditional supermarkets, Giblen and Flickinger said.
Local 1444 is negotiating labor contracts with Kohl's; Fleming Cos., owner of Rainbow Foods; Jewel-Osco; and Roundy's Inc., owner of 44 Pick 'n Save stores and the largest supermarket chain in Wisconsin.
Those companies, which together employ some 6,000 union members, want their workers to pay for a portion of their health insurance premiums, Welch said. They also are seeking benefit reductions and increases in deductibles, he said.
"At every set of negotiations, Wal-Mart is mentioned," Welch said.
Wal-Mart's status as a non-union employer gives it a competitive advantage over Pick 'n Save supermarkets with union contracts, said Todd Robert Murphy, spokesman for Pewaukee-based Roundy's. He declined to comment further, citing the company's policy of keeping labor negotiations confidential.
Little organizing success
Executives from other supermarket chains with Wisconsin stores couldn't be reached for comment. Some, however, have alluded to Wal-Mart in recent earnings reports.
Albertson's Inc., Jewel-Osco's parent corporation, announced Oct. 31 that it was cutting its forecasts for third-quarter and full-year 2002 earnings, citing an unexpectedly steep decline in sales. Analysts cited Wal-Mart as the main culprit.
Sheboygan-based Fresh Brands Inc., which runs Piggly Wiggly and Dick's Supermarkets, reported lower third-quarter sales and earnings on"continuing competitive activity in some markets." Several Wal-Mart supercenters have opened in small and medium cities, such as Prairie du Chien, Plymouth and Appleton, where Fresh Brands operates.
Though unionized supermarkets may hope Wal-Mart is successfully organized, there's been little success from past campaigns.
Union officials say that's because Wal-Mart violates labor laws designed to protect a worker's right to join a union. Wal-Mart has fired workers viewed as pro-union, they say, and has threatened and harassed other workers who support unions.
Wal-Mart's Wertz said most of the labor law charges have been resolved in the company's favor. Wal-Mart employees have rejected organizing attempts because they're satisfied with their wages, benefits and working conditions, he said.
Of 40 complaints filed against Wal-Mart over the past four years, the National Labor Relations Board found illegal practices in 10 cases. Eight cases were settled, and the rest are pending, according to a recent New York Times article.
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