LTE: Union Leader Criticizes Bloom, Other Delhaize America Closings

The United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 President Tom McNutt issued the following statement Jan. 13 in response to Delhaize America’s decision to close 126 Bloom, Food Lion and Bottom Dollar stores across the country, including the remaining Bloom in Ashburn and one of the two Blooms in Leesburg:

“First, let me offer my deepest sympathies to the workers who are losing their jobs as a result of these closings. They have been ill-served by global corporate greed, perpetrated in their case by a multinational conglomerate that treats its workers well in Europe but denies American workers their right to union representation, to earn a living wage, and to job security.

“Second, I believe this massive wave of closings demonstrates the failure of Delhaize’s low-road approach to doing business in America. Corporate executives in Brussels viewed the U.S. as if it was a Third World country — as a place where they could make a quick buck by driving their labor costs down to the lowest possible level. What they discovered was what they already knew in Europe — that a fairly compensated, fully-empowered, well-treated workforce provides the stability, productivity and quality service that are essential to long-term success in the retail grocery industry.

“Delhaize’s experience should serve as a cautionary tale to another multinational conglomerate, Royal Ahold, which operates our unionized Giant stores here in the Washington, DC, area but is simultaneously following the failed Food Lion model with its Martin’s stores in Richmond. Our members have made Giant the number one supermarket in the Washington/ Baltimore region, and made it Ahold’s greatest profit center globally. Meanwhile, Martin’s is losing money as it desperately tries to block its workers’ desire for union representation. As our members enter bargaining on a new contract with Giant, Ahold would be well advised to avoid Delhaize’s mistakes and embrace the proven high-road strategy everywhere it operates.”