With Pathmark closing, employees want vacation pay

Windsor Green anchor store to shut doors on March 14.

By: Gwen Runkle
   WEST WINDSOR — It’s always difficult losing a job, but for about 100 employees at the Pathmark grocery store on Route 1, who claim the store is cheating them of thousands of dollars in vacation pay, the experience is even more agonizing.
   The store, located in the Windsor Green shopping center on Route 1, is expected to close its doors for good March 14.
   It opened in 1993 and for the past five years has struggled to sustain optimum results, said Rich Savner, Pathmark spokesman.
   "The store hasn’t performed up to our expectations for quite some time," he said, pointing to tough competition from area stores like Wegmans and Sam’s Club farther south on Route 1 and Acme and McCaffrey’s grocery stores on Route 571 in West Windsor. "We’ve been left with no choice."
   Employees at the 51,400-square-foot Pathmark were notified of the closure Jan. 13. Since then, workers say the company has reneged on contractual entitlements, particularly the past practice of giving departing employees earned vacation pay.
   "Previously anyone resigning, retiring or quitting would get all their paid vacation plus a prorated amount from January to the month of departure," said a female employee who wished to remain anonymous.
   "Now the company is telling us that is a mistake and will only give us the prorated amount, meaning the loss of more than $3,000 for someone who has worked with the company for more than 20 years and was entitled to five weeks of vacation."
   The employees’ union is expected to meet with its lawyers next week to file for arbitration, according to Saylor Winslow, a United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1360 spokesman.
   "We are going to do whatever we have to do to get the employees what they deserve," he said. "We believe we have a strong case and that arbitration will be successful. Arbitration is a long process and could go past March 14, but we are going to fight for as long as we have to get them their money."
   The union is also disputing reductions in employees’ hours and the lack of overtime payments to some workers, Mr. Winslow said.
   Mr. Savner on the other hand, maintains the company is simply following what is stipulated in the employees’ contract.
   "I know the employees are frustrated and I can’t say I blame them," he said. "But we are not doing anything illegal and are doing the best we can.
   "The employees’ separation entitlements are dictated by their contract," he continued. "We are governed by that collective bargaining agreement."
   But Mr. Winslow contends the language of the contract is "very ambiguous" and says the company’s past practices cannot be ignored.
   "While there is no buyout in the contract, it has been the company’s past practice to give one year’s vacation plus a prorated amount," he said. "I am confident we have a strong case."
   Pathmark employees are also upset the majority of workers who have been with the company for 20 or 30 years are not being transferred to other stores. Longtime workers would instead have to start all over again as new hires — with a cut in pay, no vacation time and no benefits — if they decided to continue at another Pathmark location.
   "With the exception of the seafood and meat departments, no one is being relocated," the female employee said.
   Mr. Savner would not say which employees or how many were being transferred, but did say the employees’ union representation makes transfers difficult.
   "The West Windsor Pathmark is the only store in our group covered by this local," he said. "We’ve tried to relocate some associates, but they won’t have seniority rights in a store controlled by another local. To a certain extent, we have no flexibility to change that."
   Mr. Winslow did not dispute Mr. Savner’s explanation, but did add that while a transferring employee would lose union seniority if going to a store controlled by another union, the worker should keep company seniority.
   Employees want matters to be resolved as soon as possible, preferably before the store closes March 14.
   "Our lives are being placed on hold," said another Pathmark associate who did not want to be named. "We don’t know whether another store is coming in, whether to stay or go. It’s a sad game."
   Pathmark is currently trying to sell its lease of the space in the Windsor Green shopping center, but has not found an "appropriate" sub-tenant, Mr. Savner said.