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Executive Steven Burd’s Pay In 2010 – $11 Million + Bonus Doubled
By Annie Gasparro, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
snip
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Safeway Inc. (SWY) Chief Executive Steven Burd received a slight increase in his total pay in 2010, which reached close to $11 million as his cash bonus nearly doubled, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Burd’s base salary inched up to about $1.5 million and his non-equity incentive plan nearly doubled to reach $750,000. The latter includes cash bonuses awarded under the company’s Operating Bonus Plan and Capital Bonus Plan, according to the filing.
Safeway has seen an upswing in its performance recently, as the grocery store operator has been able to pass rising food costs through to customers by raising price tags.
Safeway Wants To Freeze Courtesy Clerk Wages
Courtesy Clerks hired on or after the date of ratification will receive MINIMUM WAGE. Courtesy Clerks hired before ratification of new agreements who are at the top Courtesy Clerk rate will be “red circled.” Their individual rate of pay will be FROZEN until such time as minimum wage is GREATER than their red circled rate, at which time they will no longer be red circled and will be paid the minimum wage.”
Translation: The only pay increase Courtesy Clerks will ever receive will be if the State of Arizona raises the minimum wage rate of pay.
This is sad news for the adult Courtesy Clerks that want to live on their own and make it on their own, but don’t have the ability to learn other positions at Safeway.
Minimum Wage vs. Cost of Living – Our nation is considered the richest on earth, yet many Americans are living BELOW POVERTY LEVEL. One reason we can pinpoint is the fact that the current minimum wage has not kept up with the increasing cost of livelihood.
Courtesy Clerks Duties
Courtesy Clerks provide a high level of customer service and practice safe food handling procedures. All courtesy clerks work in the grocery department. They bag customer’s orders, assist the customers to their cars, assist customer to product location, retrieve shopping carts, return merchandise to store shelves, sweep and mop floors, clean spills and damaged products, and provide other routine store maintenance.
Safeway CEO Steve A. Burd
Burd, Steven
Brief Biography
Mr. Steven A. Burd is member of the Board of Directors of Safeway Inc. since September 7, 1993 and has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since May 12, 1998. He has been Chief Executive Officer of the Company since April 30, 1993 and President of the Company since October 26, 1992. Mr. Burd is also a director of Kohl’s Corporation.
Yearly Compensation: $10,959,400
Union Busters?
The following “helpful information” was posted at Safeway stores a few days before the pending strike date.
Management, at 4 stores that I am personally aware, verbally informed employees the “helpful information” was provide by local union UFCW99.
Interested employees were asked to add their names to an attached list and/or fax their union membership resignations. The only fax number shown belongs to the NLRB. The National Labor Relations Board?? Odd.
Notice the Safeway letterhead. The letterhead should have given employees a clue!
The red Safeway trademark letter “S” was black on the “information letter” I personally viewed at store level. Was that done on purpose?
Why was Safeway giving the impression that they were going to allow their employees to work? Why no mention that Safeway was locking out ALL employees?
Notice there is no signature. However, where a signature is usually found on a letter, the address to UFCW99 is provided. Was that an attempt to “suggest” a signature?
Was Safeway playing with employees’ emotions? What was the real reason behind this letter?
The big question is: WHY were so many employees duped into believing the letter was from UFCW99?? Just because Safeway management said so?
THE LETTER – “Helpful Information”
Originally posted by Friends Of UFCW 99 Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Safeway Gift Cards – Not Just For Groceries
At the time of this writing, a Safeway gift card may be used to purchase groceries at Safeawy OR it may be used to purchase gift cards to other companies:
AMAZON.COM, BEST BUY, BLOCKBUSTER, BUILD-A-BEAR, GAMESTOP, OVERSTOCK.COM, TOYS R US, AEROPOSTALE, BATH AND BODY WORKS, CLAIRES STORES, FOOTLOCKER, GAP INC., HUDSON BAY COMPANY, KMART, KOHLS, MACYS, NORDSTROM, REGIS, TALBOTS, TARGET, THE BODY SHOP, TJ MAXX,BED BATH & BEYOND, HOME DEPOT, JO-ANN STORES, MICHAELS, PETSMART, SEARS, WILLIAMS-SONOMA, AMERICAN AIRLINES, BASS PRO SHOPS, CABELAS, CHEVRON, G.I. JOE SPORTS, GOLFSMITH, HAWAIIAN AIRLINES, JIFFY LUBE, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, MARRIOTT, NFLSHOP.COM, NIKE, SHELL OIL, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, SPAFINDER (US), BEAR VALLEY SKI RESORT, BUSCH GARDENS, DISNEY COMPANY, DISNEY GIFT, LEGOLAND, PARAMOUNT, SIX FLAGS, TICKETMASTER – US, TRAVELOCITY, UNIVERSAL HOLLYWOOD and MORE!
I have been informed Fry’s gift cards may also be “cashed in” to purchase gift cards for the above companies as well. However, I do not have first hand knowledge of this.
Blackhawknetwork.com is a subsidary of Safeway Inc.
Originally posted by Posted by Friends Of UFCW 99 Monday, November 16, 2009
FINALLY, Someone At The AZ Republic “Gets It”
E.J. Montini’s Columns & Blog
E.J. Montini is a columnist for The Arizona Republic.
Why do Arizonans hate labor unions?
The news isn’t simply what occurs. There are times when we learn more about ourselves and our town from events that do not take place.
(Column for Nov. 15, 2009, Arizona Republic)Or, as an anonymous reader wrote to me last week: “I didn’t think it was possible, but unions seem to be hated even more than illegals.”
He’s right.
In the days preceding a contract settlement between Fry’s, Safeway and Local 99 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union the kind of vitriol usually reserved for undocumented landscapers and short-order cooks was hurled (by readers who hide behind fake names and talk show hosts who hide behind microphones) at American-born grocery store clerks and cashiers.
With a barb or two thrown in for your friendly, local newspaper writer.
“Montini, you’re an idiot,” wrote a reader calling himself (or herself) Angel2archangel, “Strikes work when the economy is good and the employers have trouble replacing the strikers. Striking when unemployment is 10% is nuts.”
This was in response to an azcentral.com posting in which I suggested that the grocery store workers had a legitimate claim in terms of fairness, but probably would lose out to fear and scare tactics.
Another reader, belladonna70, wrote, “In case you and the Union thugs have not noticed it’s pretty bad out there… Safeway and Fry’s will replace every one of these striking employees in no time. Striking under those conditions is sheer stupidity. But then again – we are not talking about college-educated folks, now are we?”
Actually, we are talking about people like Dave Santage, a 25-year Fry’s employee who has been a union steward for some time and has a calm, decidedly un-thuggish demeanor.
“My wife and I both work for Fry’s, so if there were a strike it would hit us hard,” Santage told me. “And this really isn’t a greed thing. Nobody like us is getting rich. But the companies we work for are doing real well and our union has given lots of concessions in the past. I feel like we need to take a stand for the younger workers, the ones just coming up. I don’t see how they can make living if we don’t.”
To which an anonymous reader calling himself Drake4384, along with many, many others (often in language that didn’t make it through our website’s obscenity filters) wrote, “Unions exist for no reason.”
Really?
I put that premise to local attorney Stan Lubin, whom I first met over 20 years ago when he was representing a Phoenix police officer who, after years on the force, was being fired for having had the gall to develop a brain tumor.
“About 15 or 20 years ago high schools stopped teaching labor history,” Lubin said. “Add that to the media harping on unions and you have a misplaced hostility at working folks. And most of it is spewed by people whose lifestyle is based on gains made by unions.”
For instance, the 40-hour work week. Paid vacation. Health care. Safety regulations. Protections against discrimination. None of that was pervasive before unions, and each victory cost some union member his life or livelihood.
“It’s tough right now,” Lubin said. “Unions are going down as fast as the middle class. Maybe because it was the unions that created the middle class. The union movement wasn’t just about achieving these gains that we take for granted, but maintaining them. Right now, they’re being eroded. People need to realize that.”
Until that happens we have folks like “YuccaTapman,” who wrote about union members after the grocery strike was averted:
“Dang it! I wanted to go laugh at the picket line, maybe throw pennies at ’em.”
Originally posted by Friends Of UFCW 99 Sunday, November 15, 2009
Fry’s And Safeway – LOCKOUT
Fry’s and Safeway planned to lock out ALL hourly employees (union and non-union) before the scheduled strike planned for midnight on Friday, November 13 2009.
A lockout may happen for several reasons. When only part of a trade union votes to strike, the purpose of a lockout is to put pressure on a union by reducing the number of members who are able to work. For example, if the anticipated strike severely hampers work of non-striking workers, the employer may declare a lockout until the workers end the strike.
Another case in which an employer may impose a lockout is to avoid slowdowns or intermittent work-stoppages.
Other times, particularly in the United States, a lockout occurs when union membership rejects the company’s final offer at negotiations and offers to return to work under the same conditions of employment as existed under the now-expired contract. In such a case, the lockout is designed to pressure the workers into accepting the terms of the company’s last offer.
Originally posted by Friends Of UFCW 99 Saturday, November 14, 2009
KTAR.com Correction
Nov 12, 2009 – 9:10 am
Less than 36 hours and counting for workers at Fry’s and Safeway
supermarkets in Arizona to reach agreement on a new contract.The United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 99 has called a strike by its estimated 25,000 members for 6 p.m. Friday* if no agreement is reached. The main sticking point is health care costs.
Fry’s spokeswoman JoEllen Lynn said Wednesday that the latest offer includes medical care with no co-premium for current employees and that new hires** “would pay premiums of $5, $10 or $15 per week, depending on if they’re single, single with children or a family.”
Lynn said Fry’s is offering a 50-cents an hour raise for some employees,
along with bonus gift cards worth up to $500 and an extra $7 million in
contributions to the pension fund.“This offer on the table has no — zero — co-premiums whatsoever,” Lynn said. “The company will pay the associates’ co-premiums.”
The union workers have authorized a strike, although some marched outside union headquarters Tuesday, pressing for another vote. A strike preparation meeting was held in Phoenix Wednesday night.
Fry’s and Safeway decided this week to stick together, saying that if the union goes on strike against only one chain, the other will lock out its union workers.*** Both have been hiring replacement workers in case of a strike.
The union said its workers are “fighting for their health care.”Union spokeswoman Ellen Anreder said, “When you see your friends and
your neighbors — the people who serve you in the area supermarkets — holding a
picket sign — please shop anywhere, but not Fry’s or Safeway.”The last grocery strike — against two subsidiaries of Fry’s and Safeway in California in 2003 — lasted 20 weeks.
*Correction: At 6 pm on Friday, Frys and Safeway planned to lock out ALL their employees. Union and non-union employees.
** New hires, who are almost always hired as part-time employees, would be earning minimum wage. After paying insurance premiums, co-pays, and the balance of their medical care, a new hire would earn approximately $6500.00 a year.
*** Fry’s and Safeway were going to lock out ALL their current employees (Union AND non-union) at 6 pm and reopen their doors the next morning with recently hired temporary employees and current salary (mgmt) employees being flown in from other states.
Originally posted by Friends Of UFCW 99 Novermber 12, 2009
UFCW 99 Friends 