Future of P&C stores' unions up in air

The future of employee unions at P&C grocery stores could depend partly on how many employees are rehired in the event that a nonunionized company comes in to reopen the store, according to a national labor relations official.

Barney L. Horowitz, a resident officer with the National Labor Relations Board, Albany, said that when a new employer takes over a unionized work site it is required to recognize the union if more than half of the former employees are rehired.

"If, in fact, a new employer purchases the store and takes over, they become a successor, which legally obligates them to recognize the existing union if they hire the majority of the predecessor's work force, which means more than 50 percent," Mr. Horowitz said Wednesday. "They would be obligated to deal with the union and bargain with the union at that point."

Hourly employees at the majority of stores operated by Penn Traffic Co. are members of unions, including workers at P&C stores in Northern New York.

Two weeks ago, Penn Traffic announced plans to either sell or close all of its stores by Feb. 15 as part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. While industry analysts speculated when the bankruptcy was announced that Penn Traffic might have a buyer for some of the stores waiting in the wings, no company has thus far stepped forward to announce an interest.

Union representatives from all of the company's stores are scheduled to meet today in Oriskany at headquarters offices for Local 1, New York State United Food & Commercial Workers Union.

Mr. Horowitz said if P&C is reopened by a nonunionized company, such as Price Chopper Supermarkets, union membership cannot be considered when the company decides who is hired.

"They cannot discriminate on the basis of union membership," Mr. Horowitz said.

Michael E. Lapointe, union steward for the Canton P&C, said some of his union members are concerned about losing health insurance and other benefits provided in their union contract, while others are concerned chiefly about keeping a job because they're covered by their spouse's benefits.

"People are in different boats. Some really need the job and some are more concerned with the benefits," Mr. Lapointe said. "I would hope a new store would keep our people on."

Although a new employer may continue to recognize the union, it is not obliged to honor the terms of the existing contract, even if it has not yet expired, he said.

"The contract does not extend to the successor employer. They would be free to change the conditions of the contract. They would have to bargain a new contract with the union," Mr. Horowitz said.

The four-year contract covering P&C's unionized employees does not expire until May 2011.

Several area union officials have said it's their understanding that a nonunionized company could disband the union if it waited from 30 to 90 days.

However, Mr. Horowitz said, there are no regulations in place that allow a nonunionized company to disband a union after a certain waiting period has passed.

"There is no magic number," he said.

Mr. Horowitz pointed to a 1987 Supreme Court ruling that required the new owners of a textile dyeing plant in Fall River, Mass., to recognize the plant's employee union even though the plant had been closed for seven months.

The case, Fall River Dyeing and Finishing Corp. vs. the National Labor Relations Board, ruled in favor of the labor board, which supported the union.

"The court found the new employer to be a successor," Mr. Horowitz said.