MONTVALE, N.J. — Union locals negotiating with A&P on a new contract said the retailer’s latest proposal would result in “hundreds of layoffs” and rules that would subvert worker seniority. A&P, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is negotiating jointly with 13 local unions on a new contract to make the company more cost-competitive.
Unions were strongly critical of A&P’s first proposal and received a new offer late last week that was “not much different,” according to Bruce W. Both, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500, Westbury, N.Y.
Both in a message on Local 1500’s website said A&P is seeking job cuts, wage and benefit reductions and a change in procedures that would allow the company to dismiss lower-pay workers and replace them with more senior employees at the same pay rate as the fired employees. He reiterated that the union could look to strike.
