Posted on 09/01/2012 10:27:51 AM PDT by SmithL
A union effort to attack the nonunion Fresh & Easy grocery chain by forcing it to put price tags on each individual item, instead of using shelf tags, has fallen short again, with an appeals court ordering the plaintiffs to pay the company's legal costs.
Grocery workers' unions have battled the chain for years, picketing stores, producing attack literature and funding efforts to organize employees.
Two years ago, they found a new battleground: price tags.
Saying Fresh & Easy violated a little-known California law that requires a "clearly readable price" on 85 percent of packaged goods, three union officials sued the store in 2010.
The men, all employees of United Food and Commercial Workers affiliates, said they visited several Fresh & Easy stores -- including one in Van Nuys -- checked products on the shelves and found the stores didn't meet the requirements.
In the midst of a trial in Los Angeles Superior Court last year, the grocer's lawyers asked Judge John P. Shook to rule in their favor without having them put on a defense.
The judge agreed, finding the plaintiffs' testimony was not credible and they had misstated what the law requires.
On Thursday, an appeals court also ruled in Fresh & Easy's favor and ordered the union employees to pay the chain's appeal costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Aren't these the same people that tell us we should walk more and drive less....?
I used to be a grocery checker.
Long ago, there were NOT scanners & UPC’s.
With the introduction of such time saving & higher accuracy implements, the individual markings were no longer needed.
IF there is such a law about 85% of all items being marked individually, this part of the Calif law needs to be reversed.
Technology has passed it by.
I just chock it up to it being a UK store, and their launch in the US was just at the time that hybrids were really coming online; it was a fair attempt at targeting a particular market. But they don't carry enough hippie junk for the ecowarriors to love, which is just fine with me.
Quick and easy non-union stores that have fresh merchandise and meals. Between them and Sprouts, that's the majority of our shopping. Some of their products are at great prices, most are at fair prices, but the overpriced products are what you'd expect for a non-subsidized store (over the counter medicines, sanitary products, etc.)
But, all that said and done, the chain's halfway collapsing as it is. Underperforming stores are being shut down, quite a number of stores that were built and outfitted never even opened their doors and a few opened then closed right up again when issues came up about their beer and wine licenses.
I don't know if they'll be around all that much longer, but hope they do manage to hang on.
Unions are just plain thugs.
If the employees don’t want to join the union - then the union will make them suffer. Same with the employer - until they come around to “the union way of thinking.”
Thugs - every last one of them.
And the supreme court has ruled that RICO laws can not be used to stop their thuggery.
Interesting... how is this enforced? What happens if a non-hybrid parks in the "hybrid reserved" space? I'd like to try that... ;-)
I love it though. I go in once a week and raid the reduced rack. This week I bought two bags of bagels, a loaf of green chile rye, a container of spinach/asparagus dip, a fresh pizza dough, a four pack of tomatoes, a carton of those mini yellow tomatoes, 2 green apples, 4 ear of corn, an 8 pack of fresh cinnamon rolls ...for $11.
The Segway-mounted "green police" stuff a potato up your tailpipe.
This was in California and I, for one, am shocked sh!tless.
A local chain store has one location in my area with “compact car parking only” spaces closest to the building. It is in a suburban/rural/college town area. The only time hybrids park their is during the school year from faculty.
It is not enforced as far as I can tell as pickups, SUV’s and large sedans park their all the time. I beleive it is from the company that owns the shopping center as no other similar centers in the city have them.
The People’s Republic on Massachusetts used to require individual labeling and shelf tags. That was recently changed to shelf tags only as long as a certain percentage were accurate, IIRC.
“Consumer advocates” and probably Unions, fought to stop it because they believe customers are too stupid to read the shelf tag.
Shelf pricing and scan labels were an other job killer, like ATMs.
No wonder Baraq can’t get the unemployment down....
It's not. It's private property, so the store would have to ask you to move, and they're not going to do that to a customer...I would hope.
Our Fresh and Easy does not have those types of parking spaces. All are regular except for the handicapped.
Every time I go there they are being picketed. The picketers stand right in front of the doors and try to either make you talk to them or go around them. I love it. I get the chance to tell them to get the heck out of my way. ;)
They’d better leave Fresh and Easy alone! I really like the one by me. Great prices, good produce, and I’ve been real happy with their store brand products, too.
” “compact car parking only” spaces closest to the building.... pickups, SUV’s and large sedans park their all the time.”
Segregating the parking by vehicle size makes a lot of sense — more vehicles can be parked in a given area that way. Usually, spaces reserved for compact cars are too small to accommodate large vehicles. The lanes in a typical parking lot are usually barely large enough to drive through. I hate it when the back end of (say) a crew-cab pickup sticks out into the traffic lane. That often causes a traffic backup, as people struggle to squeeze by the offender.
BTW, not all compact cars are hybrids; and not all hybrids are compact cars.
Good points. Also, checkouts didn’t have video display terminals, where the customer can see the prices when items are scanned. I don’t hesitate to refuse a purchase, where the price isn’t what I expected to see (based on the shelf tag).
This chain is in deep trouble in the US. Here in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs low desert area) of So Cal, they built stores from scratch. However, at least 1/3 of those stores never opened. The two stores closest to our home were completed 3 to 4 years ago. The signage went up but the stores never opened. Once, they posted Help Wanted signs on both stores. Then about 6 months ago, they announced that in order “Not to confuse people”, they were removing all of the signage. Huh??? We were not confused. We all knew the stores were not open.
Plus, the closest one was located right outside the gates of a 5,000 home Sun City. It is a great location for the nearly 9,000 people who live here, not even considering the surrounding community homes. Now, I understand the Brits are looking to sell the entire US business.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.