Richmond, VA - Richfood Holdings, Inc. announced that, in an election at its Harrisburg and Shiremanstown, Pennsylvania, food distribution warehouses conducted by the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday and Friday, April 23 and 24, Richfood associates voted against the Teamsters by a vote of 505 to 220.
Dale Conklin, President of Richfood of Pennsylvania, said of the vote, “We are very pleased with the outcome of the election. The vote ends an eight- month effort to unionize our associates. During that time, our associates had the opportunity to evaluate all of the facts about unionization. A large majority of them concluded that being unionized was not in their best interest.”
Conklin, who became President of Richfood of Pennsylvania in January of 1998, continued, “We respect our associates and their decision. We consider their decision an indication of their confidence in our ability to work directly together toward the attainment of our common goals. We are going to continue to work very hard to be deserving of that confidence. Frankly, we look forward to getting the confusion of the union campaign behind us and getting back to working in the spirit of teamwork and cooperation that we are used to.”
Conklin stated further that Richfood had opposed the union's organizing effort. “We respect our associates as individuals and prefer working directly with them in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We believe that we can achieve more by working together in a cooperative spirit without the outside interference a union can bring.”
Richfood Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is the largest wholesale food distributor in the Mid-Atlantic operating region. The Company provides a full range of grocery, dairy, frozen food, produce, meat and non-food items to chain and independent retailers throughout the region. The Company also operates the Metro chain of 17 retail grocery stores in the metropolitan Baltimore area as well as 45 Farm Fresh retail grocery stores located primarily in the Tidewater, Virginia, region.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
Web Site: http://www.spcnetwork.com/mii