anyone know if Wegman's Supermarkets based in Rochester are red or blue?

Economic Activism and Progressive Living Group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=255

their business model is blue.

I have a friend who grew up lower middle class. She started working at Wegmans in high school. She said they paid well, had great benefits, and were a fantastic employer. They helped pay for part of her college education. (It was one of the benefits they offered.)

She worked there in college and through grad school and is now a safe and secure member of the middle class because Wegmans was such a wonderful, benevolent empoyer. (She's a homeowning accountant with two little kids now, by the way.)

Wegmans has been ranked the best employer in the country by some organization, and this is why. Wegmans is exactly the kind of business progressives should patronize.

Sounds like they would donate Blue..since they really care about people so much.

...without Wegman's, he'd be in prison by now.;)

which isn't saying much. One of the big reasons why they tend to pay a little higher than other area supermarkets is because they have to keep Union Local 1 out.

I worked for Tops supermarkets for years, and was a Local 1 member. We were never able to organize Wegmans. I'd be interested to find out if they are anti-union. I do know they tend to pay their meat-cutters lower than union rates.

when it come to employee relations. Eastman Kodak was also founded in Rochester, and Eastman never wanted Unions in his Company. In order to keep them out, he was one of the most generous employers in the nation. I worked at Kodak for 30 years, before I had an accident,but they were always ahead of the curve in wages, benefits and profit sharing. Within the last 20 years they've taken on more of the American cut-throat mentality and is no where near the company it used to be.

Wegman's borrowed this plan and to this day still sticks with it, probably like you said, to keep the unions out. IMO, if a company treats it's employees well enough, there's no need for a union. Wegman's seems to fit that description.

According to a Forbes piece:



I moved from upstate NY to Cleveland and damn, I miss Wegmans. I drive up to the closest on in Erie a few times a year.

My niece works for them. She's currently in college and they pay for part of it, the benefits are great and they're very understanding when she has to change her schedule because of school - so even if they donate Red, they "act" Blue. :-)

gave a grand to Bush this last election cycle (at least that's what it said on Open Secrets)--I hear it surprised a lot of Rochesterites and many who shop there. Even his daughter, I also hear, who runs the bakery division was pissed.

I still shop there as it's more or less the best of a much worse lot around here, but I try to buy--for more--at the natural food shoppe; its local, and they aren't afraid to say they don't support Bush. Around here--in North Central PA--that's damned brave.

Danny is a dope for doing that, by the way. It won't get Wal Mart off of his back.
M

on edit: yes, by the way, they are ranked very highly as employers, and that's one reason I still trek up there every other week to buy.
M

one of the best, most progressive (idea-wise at least) stores I'd ever been in, and could still be. I'm talking 15 years ago. I had never been in a grocery store that had glorious sandwich/salad/ whateveryouwanted bars, and they sold TVs! Computers were on the end of the aisles to plug in a product name, and you were informed which aisle to search in.

I remember this only because Wegmans is the only supermarket in my grandparents' small town upstate...

but they were rated the #1 company to work for in the United States. They treat their employees very well, good benefits and pay, are very active in the Rochester, NY community, sponsor an LPGA (golf) tournament every year in Rochester, give numerous scholarships to employees and the general public yearly............if they are Republican, they don't show it.

I can remember their first store on Monroe Ave. in Rochester, and they've grown phenomenally since then. They're the benchmark for supermarkets throughout the world. I often see tours through our local Wegman's with Chinese, Japanese, Germans...you name it.

If every company was like Wegman's, the United States would be a far better place.

good enough for me to shop there regularly.

We have Wegman's and Price Chopper in Syracuse, but if my dollars go to propping a progressive employer like that I'm fine with paying a little extra.