AMERICAN LABOUR:

NO TO LAYOFFS AT BIG Y GROCERY:

The following appeal for solidarity with American grocery workers comes from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union.

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Take Action: Grocery Workers Need Your Help!‏

Workers in Connecticut and Massachusetts NEED YOUR HELP on Facebook and Twitter!
The Big Y grocery company has been buying A&P stores and reopening them as Big Y stores in Connecticut--and has barely hired back any of the experienced, long-time A&P workers who were already working in those stores. At the same time, Big Y has laid off many of its own workers and has encouraged full-timers to take voluntary layoffs.

It's terrible any time someone loses a job, but when a company is expanding--what sense does that make? Why get rid of experienced workers from our communities, only to hire new ones to replace them? Full time OR part time, these grocery jobs should all be good jobs--jobs that offer good wages and benefits and a path to advancement.

We're forced to ask: Why, Big Y? What kind of a company does Big Y want to be? The kind that rewards loyal, hard-working employees? Or the kind that lets them--and their customers--down? The kind that creates good middle class jobs in our communities, or the kind that destroys them? The kind that offers a real path to advancement for part-timers and full-timers alike? Or the kind that offers only low wage, dead-end jobs?

Please help us support these laid-off workers and fight for good middle class jobs. With your help, we want to hold Big Y accountable--by asking Why, Big Y?

Please join us in asking the tough questions on Big Y's Facebook page and Twitter feed, like:

►Why did Big Y lay off so many of its own workers, and ask others to take voluntary layoffs—when the company is expanding and hiring?
►Why did Big Y refuse to hire back most A&P workers when it re-opened old A&P stores under the Big Y banner?
►Why is Big Y making these tough economic times even tougher for working families?
►Why won't Big Y listen to loyal A&P shoppers--who’ve asked repeatedly for Big Y to re-hire the A&P workers who customers have come to regard as family?
►Why won’t Big Y reward years of hard work and loyalty, so full-timers AND part-timers alike can have the opportunity they deserve?

Just ask any of the above questions--or Why, Big Y? on Facebook or Twitter to show your solidarity with laid-off Big Y workers.

You can find Big Y's Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/bigyworldclassmarket

And Big Y's Twitter feed is: @BigYFoods

Thank you so much for all your help on this, and please spread the word--we can't fight for good jobs at Big Y without you!