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Our latest example of Corporate Greed at its finest is Rite Aid, who tries to hide behind the corporate slogan, “with us it’s personal.”  BUT, do not be fooled by a silly slogan.  HMMMM….. let’s see,  Rite Aid CEO, John Standley, doubles his salary in one year from $2.3 million to $4.5 million while trying to make health insurance unaffordable for his company’s  low wage workers.  Is that being personal with your employees?  Well I guess you could say it is personal, but probably not in the way Rite Aid would want you to think.

Today, Jobs with Justice and the United Students against Sweatshops released an "investor alert" showing how Rite Aid's mismanagement and corporate greed have contributed to the company's poor performance during the past four years.  The release of the investor alert coincides with Rite Aid's annual shareholders' meeting on June 23 at the Hilton Hotel in Harrisburg, PA. The alert is available on the Jobs with Justice website here.

Jobs with Justice has been an active supporter of Rite Aid workers across the country who have struggled to form unions and to win union contracts.  Over the last several years, Jobs with Justice has leafleted stores, met with store managers, sent emails to top Rite Aid executives, and held rallies in support Rite Aid workers in their local communities.

Cross-posted from In These Times.

Last Friday, more than two dozen Rite Aid drugstores across the country had some unexpected visitors. Activists in 10 states converged on 30 stores on April 1 to protest the company's unfair labor practices and management's efforts to impose unaffordable healthcare costs on employees.

Workers at six Cleveland Rite Aid stores—whose employees are members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 880—have been on strike since March 14. After nearly a year of fruitless contract negotiations, the strike started because Rite Aid management committed dozens of unfair labor practices, violating members' rights through illegal threats, harassment, retaliation, surveillance and refusing to bargain in good faith.

In April 2010, Giant Food, which operates nearly 200 grocery stores in the mid-Atlantic area, announced plans to outsource dry goods grocery distribution to C&S Wholesale Grocers.  A Giant spokesperson cited a need to cut costs as a major reason for the outsourcing.

C&S has stated that it will close Giant's DC-area distribution centers and move the work out-of-state to massive C&S warehouses in Harrisburg, PA.   This would affect 430 family supporting jobs, mainly warehouse work, in the Washington, DC area.  An additional 200 drivers who service the facility could also be affected.  Since 1994, C& S has shut down over 20 warehouses in the U.S., costing local communities over 3,200 family-supporting jobs.

On March 13, hundreds attended a rally organized by the Teamsters at the Greenbelt, MD Giant.  DC Jobs with Justice MC'd the demonstration, and UFCW turned out workers from area Giant stores in solidarity.  The Teamsters targeted Giant again at a grocer's conference on March 30th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

On February 7th, chants were ringing out in front of John Wilson Building. “WalMart better come correct! DC residents deserve respect!” and “1 2 3 4, DC residents deserve more, 5 6 7 8, WalMart must negotiate!” were crowd favorites, even pulling in passer-bys.

Respect DC, a coalition of community, faith, environmental, student and labor organizations, was at the John Wilson building after meeting with DC Council Members and their staffs.  Their message was simple: DC demands fair wages, fair treatment and community benefits from the world’s largest employer as it plans to open four locations in the District.

Speeches were delivered from local business owners, community members and faith leaders. All aimed at one thing: WalMart must respect DC. WalMart is making big promises to bring jobs and tax revenue, but has a history of pulling communities apart with low paying jobs and setting a low standard for all other retailers.

We want our elected leaders to consider the long-term impact of WalMart and what it really means to have 4 new stores open in DC. WalMart has a proven track record, and we don’t think it fits our community or reflects its values – and we obviously aren’t the only ones feeling that as the same message was put out across the city.

In neighborhoods around the country, the buzz is at full blast as Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer (and one of the largest employers) aims to expand into urban communities.  This is not happening in isolation, but during one of the biggest economic crises in recent history.  Walmart’s new attempts at expansion center around one question: Who determines the future of work in America?  Corporate CEOs like Walmart’s Mike Duke, or working people.

In partnership with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, Jobs with Justice coalitions in DC, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere have launched a new campaign to challenge Walmart’s expansion and demand high quality jobs, the rights of Walmart Associates to organize a union without intimidation or interference from the company, and the sustainable economic recovery of our communities.

Highlights from the Dec. 15 National Day of Action…

Over the past several years, Rite Aid executives have made a number of serious missteps that have hurt the company’s business.  The nation’s third-largest retail drug store chain has not made a profit in more than three years, causing investors to suffer heavy losses. Instead of working with employees to help turn the company around, Rite Aid executives are trying to make workers pay for management’s mistakes. At Rite Aid locations across the country, the trend is same: the company is demanding concessions from hardworking employees, while increasing executive compensation.

For example, while CEO John Standley recently doubled his own compensation, Rite Aid is: