Chipotle closes union store

mjhale
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by mjhale »

veteran+ wrote: July 22nd, 2022, 8:37 am Until Business America embraces the idea that the MOST important asset they have is their employees nothing will change.
Publicly traded American businesses are beholden to Wall Street not the employees or the customer. It is a double edged sword because with pensions being a rarity American's retirement savings are mostly tied up in the stock market. You want companies to be profitable because share price goes up and your investments are worth more. However on the other side, human labor is the largest cost for any business. Increasing investment in labor is going to hit profitability which hits share price... you get the drift. You make an excellent point about consolidation. Take the grocery business. Despite all of the different names on buildings we only have a handful of large grocers - Ahold, Albertsons, Kroger, Pubix. That's nationally. When I was growing up in my area we had five strong national, regional and local all competing for business and employees. All five were union operators but had different management styles and attention to employees. People could and did jump around both laterally and for promotions. Now everything is run from the corporate HQ and despite different names on the buildings the mentality and store operation is really the same. The days of making a career in retail at some level of the org chart and making decent money doing it is over. I think the only way that is going to change is if the customers and employees take a walk and we go back to local or regional ownership. Will that happen? Not likely and we will all suffer for it with can't be bothered lackluster service and stores.
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by mjhale »

storewanderer wrote: July 22nd, 2022, 10:01 am I don't know... I know of a lot of union shops where the employees are unhappy, management is terrible, corporate is completely out of touch, and operations are poor. It all adds up to high turnover.

And I'm not just talking retail here. I'm also talking gaming, education, government......... the unions don't save a toxic work environment. I am not saying the work environment would be better without the union and it could likely be worse but talking to people working in some of these places I'm not sure how it could be much worse.
The union is certainly not some panacea. However they are another voice for the employees if they choose to unionize. Yes there are always accusations of unions being out for the own good, the good of the leadership and whatever political causes they support. But when the employee feels that they have exhausted all of their options and still no one will listen one might feel that bringing a union onboard might do some good. Also we need to encourage people to be enrolled and have some dedication to their jobs. Telling people to just leave if they don't like it is an option. However, you don't build any long term loyalty and institutional knowledge that way. Everyone jumping around and not caring because they know they won't be there that long is just as bad as disinterested, can't be bothered long term employees.
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by veteran+ »

mjhale wrote: July 22nd, 2022, 7:30 pm
veteran+ wrote: July 22nd, 2022, 8:37 am Until Business America embraces the idea that the MOST important asset they have is their employees nothing will change.
Publicly traded American businesses are beholden to Wall Street not the employees or the customer. It is a double edged sword because with pensions being a rarity American's retirement savings are mostly tied up in the stock market. You want companies to be profitable because share price goes up and your investments are worth more. However on the other side, human labor is the largest cost for any business. Increasing investment in labor is going to hit profitability which hits share price... you get the drift. You make an excellent point about consolidation. Take the grocery business. Despite all of the different names on buildings we only have a handful of large grocers - Ahold, Albertsons, Kroger, Pubix. That's nationally. When I was growing up in my area we had five strong national, regional and local all competing for business and employees. All five were union operators but had different management styles and attention to employees. People could and did jump around both laterally and for promotions. Now everything is run from the corporate HQ and despite different names on the buildings the mentality and store operation is really the same. The days of making a career in retail at some level of the org chart and making decent money doing it is over. I think the only way that is going to change is if the customers and employees take a walk and we go back to local or regional ownership. Will that happen? Not likely and we will all suffer for it with can't be bothered lackluster service and stores.
And that is the problem: E-Suite and shareholder coddling at the expense of the entire nation, ever expanding the chasm between the 1% (or less) and the poor or soon to be poor.

I grew up with good competition as well. 5 nationals, I super regional and 6 strong independants. Choices for consumers and employees.
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: July 23rd, 2022, 8:44 am

And that is the problem: E-Suite and shareholder coddling at the expense of the entire nation, ever expanding the chasm between the 1% (or less) and the poor or soon to be poor.

I grew up with good competition as well. 5 nationals, I super regional and 6 strong independants. Choices for consumers and employees.
How are the union organizing efforts going at Chickfila, In N Out, and Panda Express (okay- the Vons ones are under the union)? Oh, there are not any union organizing efforts at those chains. I wonder why that is? Because they actually pay the wages necessary to retain staff? Because they actually staff with enough staffing that employees do not burn out? Or do they attract a different kind of employee?
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by Romr123 »

Private ownership would be my guess...not so beholden to the vagaries of Wall Street (though they have their own problems in longevity beyond the founder's generation and the next generation). There is always that frisson of fear when you've got a locally dominant chain, privately held and the future (Schnucks, Meijer, Market Basket New England).
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by SamSpade »

Romr123 wrote: July 26th, 2022, 5:17 am There is always that frisson of fear when you've got a locally dominant chain, privately held and the future (Schnucks, Meijer, Market Basket New England).
Yeah, just look what happened to the Save Mart Corp. retirees.
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Re: Chipotle closes union store

Post by Romr123 »

Pensions are a whoooooole 'nother animal... I was referring more to operations (as an example the Raley's/Basha's rationalization...wouldn't consider Basha's abundantly healthy but, still)
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