First Hostess, now Dominick's.

[Scout26]

Unions, once again, are  putting their employees first.

Dominick's (Chicago based Grocery Store, owned by Safeway) is closing all 72 of their stores.  

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10-11/business/chi-dominicks-parent-leaving-chicago-20131010_1_dominick-safeway-inc-chicago-area-stores

TL/DR Money Quote:

During a previous attempt to sell its Dominick's stores, the winning bidder could not reach an agreement with union members.

So 6,600 jobs^ go *poof*.    Well done, a-holes, well done.




^And probably far more then that.  A friend of mine is a "manufacturer's rep" for several food (mostly cheese) companies.  Guess who his biggest customer is, go ahead, guess.

[Sergeant Bob]

I used to regularly deliver truckloads of groceries to Dumbdick's and I couldn't stand those union pukes. Like most union grocery warehouse I went to, they were total a- holes.

I shall not shed a tear for them losing their jobs.

[Bigjake]

Overpaid aholes running a place into the ground??  Unpossible!

This is what comes of a whole class of "worker"  that never progressed past their first high school job, and now somehow feel that they're entitled to an overpaid "career" as unskilled labor.

Beware idiots that are organized in large numbers. 

[Gowen]

When I worked for a grocery store, (Nevada is non union) California stores were union.  The company cut labor across the board, they had no one to fill the dairy case in the evenings.  Under union rules management could not stock shelves.  Then ended up just putting up a sign telling the customers to get their own milk.  I laughed, the union got hosed and so did the company.

[TechMan]

Rumor around here has it that Kroger may be buying Dominick's. http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2013/10/is-kroger-planning-to-buy-chicago.html?page=all

If it considers buying Dominick’s, Kroger would need to figure out how “broken” Dominick’s management is, Hertel said. Harris Teeter’s management is a strength that means Kroger won’t need to spend much time overseeing that operation, he said.

Dominick’s is known as a high-quality grocer, but growth among top-level operators such as Whole Foods and Mariano’s in Chicago has altered the competitive landscape.

“It’s not so much that Dominick’s quality has fallen off as the competitive bar was raised,” Hertel said.

[HankB]

Dominick's had a relatively brief run in Chicago, at least in the part I grew up in - I don't remember EVER seeing one locally, let alone shopping there, before I moved away circa 1979. At that time the overwhelmingly dominant chain was Jewel, but we did a good part of our shopping at two nearby independent grocers, Sparkle and West Lawn Finer Foods, both near 59th & Pulaski. (I think the latter is still in business.) Jewel effectively killed off competing chains High-Lo and A&P when I was a youngster.

Sparkle had some union problems when the union meatcutters went on strike with no warning. The owner and his son then did the meatcutting, much to the dismay of the union. I remember once it was raining, and the picketing meatcutters took shelter inside the store's entrance vestibule and refused to leave until the owner called the police. <Bleeping> goons.

Funny anecdote - a friend of mine saw the picket line, and an old man was telling the striking meatcutters how much he supported them. So my buddy walked up and told the old man to ask them what they were making already . . . after a little back and forth, a number came out, and the old man changed his tune - he went on a tirade about the "gorram sumbiches" making too much already and wanting to raise prices for senior citizens on Social Secuity like him. 

I vaguely remember shopping at a Kroger once - but those stores were few and far between back then, and certainly none were nearby.