Union wades into Salisbury Giant flap
A website that popped up earlier this month is gathering signed petitions from people opposed to the rumored closure of the Giant supermarket in Salisbury.
As of the morning of April 11, a counter at the bottom of the site had recorded about 500 completed petitions.
Who is behind the campaign? The site doesn't offer specifics, saying only that it is "Generated by concerned citizens & consumers of Salisbury."
The domain name, SaveOurGiant.com, is registered to the Towson office of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents more than 1 million workers nationwide in grocery, retail and manufacturing. An official with the Union's Local 27 group confirmed that it created the site.
She declined to answer further questions about the website. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Giant's parent company reaffirmed that no store closures are anticipated.
The campaign represents a preemptive salvo against any effort to shutter the decades-old supermarket on South Salisbury Boulevard. It also underscores the anxiety over the potential for losing dozens of jobs at a time when the area's workforce is just beginning to get back on track after the recession.
Future of Salisbury grocery store a Giant mystery
Rumors began swirling last month about the Giant's future. Ahold, which owns Giant, is working toward merging with fellow grocer Delhaize, which owns Food Lion, by the middle of this year.
The companies own 6,500 stores under different brands along the East Coast. In most states, the markets do not overlap, but they do on Delmarva.
It's unclear what, if any, changes might come to their stores in the Salisbury area. The Federal Trade Commission is currently reviewing the merger proposal. In previous mergers, the FTC has required grocery chains to sell some of their properties where stores overlap.
A Delhaize representative has said the company will not comment on "market speculation" or "pending regulatory matters." But an Ahold spokesman, Chris Brand, said in a statement: "We do not anticipate any store closures as part of the FTC merger approval process."
The union-created website, which debuted April 6, calls on the merged companies to keep the Salisbury store open and under the Giant banner. It refers to the grocery store as an "important anchor of the Greater Salisbury community for more than 50 years."
Giant is part of fabric of Salisbury
It is the only Giant on the Lower Shore. There are 10 Food Lions in the three lower counties.
Giant employs somewhere between 100 and 249 people in Wicomico County, according to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. That total, even if it approached the higher figure, would represent less than 1 percent of the county's workers.
Still, "every job’s important, so it would hurt," said Dave Ryan, head of the Salisbury Wicomico Economic Development.
Wicomico's 7.2 percent unemployment rate in February was the lowest it has been for that month in more than six years.
He has heard "nothing definitive" on what will happen to the Giant, he said. Ryan added he has reached out to the company to offer any help his office can provide.
Contact reporter Jeremy Cox at 410-845-4630 or on Twitter @Jeremy_Cox.