No budging for union or Acme as deadline nears

Neither Acme Markets management nor the union representing Acme workers is budging as the July 10 deadline for contract negotiation nears.

Wendell Young IV, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which represents Acme's workers, termed recent Acme ads in the Daily News and Inquirer seeking clerks as "scare tactics" and "intimidating."

"It will hurt Acme within the communities it does business in, and in [Acme's] relationship with their employees," Young told the Daily News.

Malvern-based Acme, a subsidiary of New Albertson's Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minn., has advised its workers that it is not planning a lockout, and union officials say that they do not plan a strike.

"We have never threatened to strike," Young said. "Our goal is to serve our customers."

Seth Horwitz, an Acme spokesman, said that the company "will fulfill any legal duty to bargain, but believe [their] final offer, submitted June 9th, is fair and reasonable."

After Local 1776 members voted June 24 to reject the offer, the company said in a news release that its offer came after 18 months of "fruitless" negotiations. Horwitz said that the last offer would not be changed or improved.

"We hope our associates have another chance to vote on and ratify what we feel is a generous offer," he said.

Horwitz said that Acme has promised to increase its pension contribution by 60 percent, beyond the 65 percent it has increased over the last six years.

Young said that Acme was trying to force its workers to bear the brunt of a decade of mismanagement and a failure to properly invest in the company.

"They have done a terrible job managing a terrific asset, and not invested in growth and expansion," Young said.

"You can't blame all [of the company's problems] on labor when the people who control the company decide not to grow and compete."