Acme butcher's beef: A nonunion Genuardi's (this is the forum story of the day)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20071008_Acme_butchers_beef__A_nonunion_Genuardis.html

He seeks support for an independent union for his competitors.

Posted on Mon, Oct. 8, 2007

By Jane M. Von Bergen

Inquirer Staff Writer
If the labor movement is dying, it's not because of Eric Grumbrecht, 42, an Acme butcher from Warminster. He would say it's the fault of his union, the United Food and Commercial Workers.

"They are the laziest organizers on the planet," he said. "I've never seen anyone in the UFCW organize squat."


If the labor movement is dying, it's not because of Eric Grumbrecht, 42, an Acme butcher from Warminster. He would say it's the fault of his union, the United Food and Commercial Workers.


So Grumbrecht decided to start his own union to organize butchers, bakers and deli workers at Genuardi's, a division of Safeway Inc.

That sets up this $21.27-an-hour butcher in a fight with a corporate giant that books $40.2 billion in annual revenue, and a union with 1.3 million members nationwide and a $230 million budget.

Think of Grumbrecht as a labor entrepreneur. He has the heart and hustle, he says, found in those who start the kinds of organizations that challenge their worn-out predecessors.

Grumbrecht has his work cut out for him, and UFCW officials say he is a novice, ill-equipped for the task.

Here's what's not at issue:

Acme butchers, represented by UFCW, earn more money and have better benefits than nonunion butchers at Genuardi's.

FULL story at link.