Tuesday, April 29, 2008

UFCW 8 President Jacques Loveall: Management’s Mistakes Caused Closure of Grocery Outlet Store

ROSEVILLE, Calif. (April 28, 2008) –– Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW 8-Golden State, said today that misguided management decisions led to the closure of a Grocery Outlet store in Rocklin.

“We don’t take joy in this store’s failure,” Loveall said. “We wish its managers had better sense. Had they worked with us and treated their employees well, they would be prospering today.”

Loveall noted that the store’s management tried to deceive the public when it opened under the Lucky banner.

“Lucky is a Union employer,” Loveall said. “It pays its employees fair wages and provides them with good union-negotiated benefits. This store did not.”

He said that Grocery Outlet exploited its workers by paying wages below industry and area standards.

“That’s why Union supporters picketed the store for the past two years,” Loveall said. “The public needs to know when a non-Union store mistreats its employees and tries to pass itself off as a Union shop.”

The Union supporters picketed the store five days a week and handed out leaflets to shoppers informing them of the deception and asking them to patronize nearby Union stores instead.