Timonium Superfresh Employees Left Hanging in Proposed ShopRite Deal

Employees at the Superfresh grocery store in Timonium will have no job security in the proposed conversion of the site to a new ShopRite location, according to court documents filed this week in a New York bankruptcy court. 

About 100 employees at the store will only be offered new jobs with ShopRite at the “sole discretion” of the new owners, according to a proposed sale agreement filed in the court by Superfresh’s parent company.

“Unfortunately, that’s true. We’re trying hard to convince ShopRite to hire as many people as possible, but they are under no obligation to hire anybody. And they have told us they will not be able to take everybody,” said Tim Goins, executive vice president of the local labor union representing the workers.

The proposed sale by Superfresh corporate parent Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (or A&P) is subject to approval by a federal bankruptcy court in White Plains, NY. A hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for June 14.  

A&P—which operates more than 300 stores in the mid-Atlantic region—entered bankruptcy court in late 2010, citing heavy debts and high labor costs.  

Since then, A&P has been closing or selling stores in several states, including the planned closings of 25 Superfresh markets in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

Exactly 98 employees at the Timonium store received notices in early May that their jobs would be terminated by Superfresh, according to the Maryland state labor agency.  But an announcement in mid May that ShopRite would take over the store had raised hopes among employees that their jobs could be saved. 

The 98 Timonium workers are among 1,477 Superfresh employees statewide who have been notified that their jobs are to be eliminated, said Mike Raia, a spokesman for the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

ShopRite spokeswoman Karen Meleta said last week it was “” what hiring policies would be adopted at the Timonium store, and at another proposed new ShopRite location at White Oak.

Meleta said more information about ShopRite hiring practices at the new Maryland stores would be available only after the sales transaction has been officially finalized, which is expected shortly after the June 14 court hearing.

The unionized employees at the Timonium Superfresh are represented by Towson-based United Food & Commercial Workers Local 27.  

UFCW official Goins said the new ShopRite store would also be unionized, but under a separate collective bargaining agreement that would provide a different wage and benefit package than the Superfresh agreement.

Negotiations between the UFCW and ShopRite on the new labor contract are ongoing, Goins said.

Editor's Note: You can catch up on coverage of this ongoing news series by reading the following articles posted here on Lutherville-Timonium Patch. 

• , May 24
• , May 21
• , May 16
• , April 29