In past materials I saw UFCW put out, they called them out for basically scheduling people "just slightly too few" hours to qualify for the ESOP and making it harder for newer employees to get into the ESOP than employees who were able to enter it back in the 90's. This does not sound unlike what you see a lot of retailers do with having so many part time employees and so few full time employees, to avoid paying out health benefits.
There are some hourly employees at the store I shop who are obviously long vested in the ESOP and have done extremely well.
This bodes very poorly for the moribund DFW/Oklahoma stores, which opened in the early 2010s.
Why is that? Is there word of a union drive in those OK/TX Stores? I have not heard of one.
As I understand it, for employee-owned companies, they'd have to vote if Albertsons or Kroger or whoever approached them, but if there's no one really financially vested in the stores in TX/OK, there is going to be no real resistance if one of them picked off that particular division.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 12th, 2024, 10:20 am
I still am not sure about this specific UFCW situation. Haggen was a good example of a chain that failed because of bad private equity ownership. They seem to be making a Devil's Advocate argument that is sadly realistic: that Albertsons will be sold eventually whether we like it or not, that no qualified Union buyer will be able to acquire it due to antitrust regulations, and thus the only companies that could acquire it will be the horrible Private Equity firms. They are betting that a Kroger monopoly is better for their workers than a evil PE firm that does not care at all, will attempt to circumvent union contracts, slash wages and benefits, and close many stores. The ideal situation for everyone is for no merger and no sale of Albertsons, but the fact is that no charity is going to come along and write a check for billions to Cerberus' and Apollo's shares then send them both packing. A transaction will eventually happen in conjunction with selling their shares and the fact is if private equity is involved then it will be a far worse outcome specifically for their employees than the Kroger, C&S etc. debacle ever could be. That is their argument, and it's a more realistic view of the situation than the idealistic "no mergers period" view of their union parents. Honestly, are they wrong? I don't think they are. They know that if Albertsons goes to private equity their union will be destroyed.
If the merger goes through as planned, C&S is almost certainly going to go for the weaker Safeway/Albertsons units (Fred Meyer employees are safe) but once that happens, those unions are going to be on borrowed time before the store self-destructs. Apollo taking Albertsons whole would be bad for the company, but assuming that will happen is a bit short-sighted unless they got insider information of that happening, and really bad if any money changed hands.
Even if Amazon bought Albertsons (assuming that the whole Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods issue got de-tangled), there's no reason to assume that they'd break up the unions...what, you think MGM got de-unionized?
This bodes very poorly for the moribund DFW/Oklahoma stores, which opened in the early 2010s.
Why is that? Is there word of a union drive in those OK/TX Stores? I have not heard of one.
As I understand it, for employee-owned companies, they'd have to vote if Albertsons or Kroger or whoever approached them, but if there's no one really financially vested in the stores in TX/OK, there is going to be no real resistance if one of them picked off that particular division.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 12th, 2024, 10:20 am
I still am not sure about this specific UFCW situation. Haggen was a good example of a chain that failed because of bad private equity ownership. They seem to be making a Devil's Advocate argument that is sadly realistic: that Albertsons will be sold eventually whether we like it or not, that no qualified Union buyer will be able to acquire it due to antitrust regulations, and thus the only companies that could acquire it will be the horrible Private Equity firms. They are betting that a Kroger monopoly is better for their workers than a evil PE firm that does not care at all, will attempt to circumvent union contracts, slash wages and benefits, and close many stores. The ideal situation for everyone is for no merger and no sale of Albertsons, but the fact is that no charity is going to come along and write a check for billions to Cerberus' and Apollo's shares then send them both packing. A transaction will eventually happen in conjunction with selling their shares and the fact is if private equity is involved then it will be a far worse outcome specifically for their employees than the Kroger, C&S etc. debacle ever could be. That is their argument, and it's a more realistic view of the situation than the idealistic "no mergers period" view of their union parents. Honestly, are they wrong? I don't think they are. They know that if Albertsons goes to private equity their union will be destroyed.
If the merger goes through as planned, C&S is almost certainly going to go for the weaker Safeway/Albertsons units (Fred Meyer employees are safe) but once that happens, those unions are going to be on borrowed time before the store self-destructs. Apollo taking Albertsons whole would be bad for the company, but assuming that will happen is a bit short-sighted unless they got insider information of that happening, and really bad if any money changed hands.
Even if Amazon bought Albertsons (assuming that the whole Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods issue got de-tangled), there's no reason to assume that they'd break up the unions...what, you think MGM got de-unionized?
I'm just going to say that you're underestimating the destructive force that is Apollo. They already have a significant chunk of the company and it is being observed that they are installing some of their favorite "best practices" like making employees work 3 hour shifts despite the union agreement. They don't have to borrow the money and can buy with cash on hand for a fast deal (although they will borrow against it later). What you are missing is that they will take that new debt and pile it upon Albertsons so that it's management team is forced to cut costs to the absolute bone to make their debt payments. The union will be powerless unless they want to make a push for liquidation of the company. It won't be Apollo that destroys the union agreements, slashes the benefits, and automates as much as possible. It will be Albertsons themselves because of the ticking time bomb of debt sitting in the boardroom courtesy of Apollo. And to be sure they'll act in Apollo's best interests, the entire board of directors and C-Suite will all be terminated upon the deal close and replaced with their people. I've seen it, I've lived it, and trust me when I say it is unusually effective in ruining the culture of a company as every shred of income basically is routed right back to the billionaires club that is Apollo. The fact that they bought even one share means that they are in it to pursue a specific endgame of a large deal that delivers massive profit to them, and their mere involvement does represent their commitment and full intentions to buy the entire company with cash if required. And nobody could stop it since Cerberus would vote for the deal plus their own shares.
Why is that? Is there word of a union drive in those OK/TX Stores? I have not heard of one.
As I understand it, for employee-owned companies, they'd have to vote if Albertsons or Kroger or whoever approached them, but if there's no one really financially vested in the stores in TX/OK, there is going to be no real resistance if one of them picked off that particular division.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 12th, 2024, 10:20 am
I still am not sure about this specific UFCW situation. Haggen was a good example of a chain that failed because of bad private equity ownership. They seem to be making a Devil's Advocate argument that is sadly realistic: that Albertsons will be sold eventually whether we like it or not, that no qualified Union buyer will be able to acquire it due to antitrust regulations, and thus the only companies that could acquire it will be the horrible Private Equity firms. They are betting that a Kroger monopoly is better for their workers than a evil PE firm that does not care at all, will attempt to circumvent union contracts, slash wages and benefits, and close many stores. The ideal situation for everyone is for no merger and no sale of Albertsons, but the fact is that no charity is going to come along and write a check for billions to Cerberus' and Apollo's shares then send them both packing. A transaction will eventually happen in conjunction with selling their shares and the fact is if private equity is involved then it will be a far worse outcome specifically for their employees than the Kroger, C&S etc. debacle ever could be. That is their argument, and it's a more realistic view of the situation than the idealistic "no mergers period" view of their union parents. Honestly, are they wrong? I don't think they are. They know that if Albertsons goes to private equity their union will be destroyed.
If the merger goes through as planned, C&S is almost certainly going to go for the weaker Safeway/Albertsons units (Fred Meyer employees are safe) but once that happens, those unions are going to be on borrowed time before the store self-destructs. Apollo taking Albertsons whole would be bad for the company, but assuming that will happen is a bit short-sighted unless they got insider information of that happening, and really bad if any money changed hands.
Even if Amazon bought Albertsons (assuming that the whole Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods issue got de-tangled), there's no reason to assume that they'd break up the unions...what, you think MGM got de-unionized?
I'm just going to say that you're underestimating the destructive force that is Apollo. They already have a significant chunk of the company and it is being observed that they are installing some of their favorite "best practices" like making employees work 3 hour shifts despite the union agreement. They don't have to borrow the money and can buy with cash on hand for a fast deal (although they will borrow against it later). What you are missing is that they will take that new debt and pile it upon Albertsons so that it's management team is forced to cut costs to the absolute bone to make their debt payments. The union will be powerless unless they want to make a push for liquidation of the company. It won't be Apollo that destroys the union agreements, slashes the benefits, and automates as much as possible. It will be Albertsons themselves because of the ticking time bomb of debt sitting in the boardroom courtesy of Apollo. And to be sure they'll act in Apollo's best interests, the entire board of directors and C-Suite will all be terminated upon the deal close and replaced with their people. I've seen it, I've lived it, and trust me when I say it is unusually effective in ruining the culture of a company as every shred of income basically is routed right back to the billionaires club that is Apollo. The fact that they bought even one share means that they are in it to pursue a specific endgame of a large deal that delivers massive profit to them, and their mere involvement does represent their commitment and full intentions to buy the entire company with cash if required. And nobody could stop it since Cerberus would vote for the deal plus their own shares.
Again, if the assumption is Apollo will do that to Albertsons, then why not just say it? If Apollo flat out told them, then why the secrecy? If Apollo paid them hush money to bat for Kroger, then they are complicit in Apollo's machinations (if not in violation of several civil and criminal statutes).
