Union grocery employees in the Twin Cities are eyeing with concern a new trend in retailing: the combination of supermarkets and giant discount stores under one roof.

The entry into the supermarket business by such powerful national chains as Wal-Mart, Costco and Minneapolis-based Target has the potential to be both an organizing opportunity for unions and a serious competitive threat to the profitability of traditional grocery stores and to the wage and benefit levels in place in stores that are unionized.

'The majority of retail is nonunion, but groceries aren't that way,' said Jennifer Swanson, an organizer for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 in South St. Paul. Local 789 represents about 5,000 grocery employees in the St. Paul area, she said; UFCW Local 653, based in Minneapolis, represents an additional 13,000 grocery workers.

'We can't let anything come into an area where we have a union stronghold,' Swanson said. 'Any grocery business taken away from our stores could be significant.'

?One-stop shopping'
A prime example of the new trend is the SuperTarget concept. Such stores combine the merchandise found in a Target Greatland with what Target calls an 'upscale' supermarket. By adding a grocery department, called Archer Farms Market, Target provides customers with 'greater one-stop shopping,' said Patty Morris, manager of media relations for Target Stores.

The supermarket portion typically includes fresh meat, seafood and produce; a bakery and delicatessen; a floral department; a bank; a portrait studio and one-hour photo service; and a juice and coffee bar. A typical SuperTarget covers 175,000 square feet, compared with 135,000 for a Target Greatland and 90,000-125,000 for a regular Target.

Target already has 30 SuperTargets in 10 states, with plans to open 200 in the next decade, Morris said. The first Minnesota SuperTargets are scheduled to open July 29 in Rochester and in Shoreview. The Shoreview SuperTarget is actually an addition to the existing Target Greatland at 3800 N. Lexington.

Morris would not confirm plans for additional stores in the Twin Cities. However, developers have proposed SuperTarget stores as anchor tenants in new shopping centers planned at US 52 and Interstate 494 in Inver Grove Heights and at Interstate 35 and 185th Street in Lakeville. Also, Minnetonka has approved a SuperTarget at the site of the 7-Hi shopping center at the intersection of Highways 101 and 7.

Wal-Mart and Costco have similar superstores. Costco opened its first Twin Cities store in November, near Highway 100 and Interstate 394 in St. Louis Park. Wal-Mart has Super Wal-Marts in Hibbing and Rochester.

UFCW promotes union retail
Swanson said UFCW fears that the expansion of nonunion retailers into groceries could create 'an unlevel playing field' for current supermarkets.

'We have to nip this in the bud,' she said. 'Minnesota has some of the finest pay rates and benefits in the country. There are certainly improvements needed at the starting end of the scale but, generally, our employers have stepped up to the plate.

'We intend to do everything we need to do to educate our members and other unions to shop union retail,' Swanson said.

'This gives us an opportunity to invigorate our membership, to help them realize the benefits of a contract and the employment security it provides. Many people don't realize how ?at will' at-will employment can be.'

Swanson said UFCW also intends to encourage superstore employees to unionize. 'A lot of people are interested in seeing that Target is playing fair. If Target would agree to card-check recognition, we'd not only welcome that, we'd certainly promote them as a place to shop.'

Mixed signals on unions
Target's approach to unions is mixed.

'All of our contractors are union,' Morris said, a point confirmed locally by Dick Anfang, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.

'Target has a very good history of building union in St. Paul and Minneapolis,' Anfang said. 'By and large, most of their work is done by Witcher, which is a good union company. In terms of corporate policy, we've never had to call them up.'

On the other hand, Target has more than 975 stores nationwide, including 56 in Minnesota. Not one of them is unionized, Morris said.

'We recognize our team members' right to join a union,' she said, 'and we recognize their right not to join a union. Our goal is that our team members are supported, treated well, and provided a work environment where they don't feel they need to be represented by a third party.'

A larger Target store typically would have 400-500 employees, of which about 100 would be full-time and about two-thirds women, Morris said. She notes that Target has been cited several times as one of the best places to work in America, most recently for the third year in a row by Working Mother Magazine. Even part-timers receive such benefits as health coverage and vacation after a year, she said.

Ad raises red flags
Local 789's Jennifer Swanson said she suspects Target would oppose a union campaign vigorously. She points to an employment ad for a 'labor relations consultant' posted on Monster.com. early in January. A similar ad was posted on the company Web site.

A portion of one ad reads: 'The successful candidate will also have a vast array of exposure to union avoidance measures and negotiations of collective bargaining agreements?'

The other ad includes this buzzword language: 'Assists in the identification of vulnerabilities, development and administration of policies and procedures to ensure pro-active, positive employee relations and union response awareness.

'Essention Functions: Consult on labor relations issues during union organizing activities and election campaigns.?'

This article was written for the Jan. 10 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org

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