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.

While taking a 100% pay increase, John Standley is trying to raise health care costs even though Northeast Ohio area workers accepted meager wage increases so they would be able to keep the costs affordable – I guess someone has to pay for John Standley’s increase in salary. In the 2010 letter to shareholders, Standley brags about decreasing costs and projecting a growth in profitable sales – and we all know how they intend to decrease costs – on the

Continue reading Rite Aid Strike Continues in Cleveland

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.

Rite Aid has been struggling to return to profitability since the disastrous acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd chains in 2007, which left the company deeply in debt.  Rite Aid has consistently under-performed its top competitors, CVS and Walgreens, and has reported losses in 15 straight quarters (results for the 16th quarter ended

Continue reading Mismanagement & Corporate Greed Plague Rite Aid

Rite Aid Negotiating Committee after signing Tentative Agreement on May 1, 2011.Rite Aid workers at the company's massive Southwest Distribution Center in Lancaster declared victory on Sunday, May 1 in their five-year effort to form a union and improve working conditions.

Workers signed a 3-year tentative agreement with management on May 1 – subject to a May 12 ratification vote – that will improve conditions at the million-square-foot facility in California’s high desert by guaranteeing:

“We’re excited about winning this victory, even if it took longer than it should have,” said Carlos “Chico” Rubio, a

Continue reading Rite Aid workers win 5-year campaign to form union at giant Rite Aid distribution center

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.

Rite Aid resorted to these illegal tactics in Ohio as part of a nationwide effort to convince workers to move into a more expensive company health insurance plan. Many Rite Aid retail employees are paid such low wages that if their union accepted Rite Aid’s plan, they would be forced to decline company coverage and instead

Continue reading Rite Aid Workers’ Strike in Cleveland Sparks Nationwide Protest

So our latest example of Corporate Greed at its finest is Rite Aid, who tries to hide behind the slogan, “with us it’s personal.” BUT, do not be fooled by a silly slogan. HMMMM….. let’s see, Rite Aid CEO, John Stanley, 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.

While taking a 100% pay increase, John Stanley is trying to raise health care costs even though Ohio workers accepted meager wage increases so they would be able to keep the costs affordable. The employees in stores in Lancaster, CA are facing an astounding 2800% increase in their health care costs. I guess someone has to pay for John Stanley’s increase in salary.

In the 2010 letter

Continue reading Stop Corporate Greed at Rite Aid!

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:

The nationwide actions were sparked by a rash of recent decisions by Rite Aid officials: