MORRIS COUNTY

Union: A&P won’t run stores after bankruptcy

Staff Report

A union official has said that The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. does not plan to operate any supermarkets once its Chapter 11 bankruptcy is finished.

All of its stores will be closed or sold, which in Morris County includes A&P and Pathmark, according to John T. Niccollai, president of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 464A.

“(The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.) has no intention, at this point, to continue to operate these stores,” he said. “That’s what they’re telling us (the union).”

According to the initial bankruptcy filing, the stores must be sold before Oct. 30.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. would not comment for this story. The company also operates the Waldbaum’s, Food Emporium and Food Basics.

The day after A&P announced bankruptcy proceedings, store closures and the intent to sell others on July 21, Acme Markets announced that it plans to buy 76 A&P stores, including locations in Denville and Jefferson.

A&P later announced closures of some stores including Pathmark in Kinnelon, which is listed by the company as being in Butler. The fate of A&P stores in Boonton and Randolph, and its Pathmark locations in Parsippany, Roxbury (Landing) and Lake Hopatcong, is still uncertain.

On Wednesday, Local 464A posted a statement to its website that said Montvale-based A&P was seeking to modify its collective bargaining agreements with local unions, with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 17.

Some of the modifications the company is seeking to repeal include “bumping” provisions, where terminated employees would be granted jobs with operating company supermarkets, deferral of severance pay, and elimination of cashing out unused paid time off, according to a document filed with the bankruptcy court on Tuesday.

Niccollai would not say what would happen to employees of stores that were sold or closed, only that the state of affairs was constantly in flux.

“There’s nothing in terms of finality. There’s still people looking at the stores, the company is still soliciting bids,” Niccollai said. “There may well be other people coming in to buy those stores. Obviously we’re hopeful that that will happen.”

All employees will be issued WARN (Work Adjustment and Retraining) notices — documents that indicate a store is closing, and names the rights of employees — as per procedure this week.

Contributing: Asbury Park Press Staff Writer Devin Loring, @DevinLoring