If Cerberus Capital Management has its way, local supermarket clerks will shoulder the burden for the private equity firm's debt. In its current bargaining with members of UFCW Locals 400 and 27, Cerberus -- which owns Albertsons-Safeway -- is refusing to honor Safeway’s previous commitment to secure pension benefits. "Cerberus is taking a page straight out of the private equity playbook,” said UFCW Local 400 president Mark P. Federici. “Borrow other people’s money to make an acquisition and strip the company you acquire of its assets to pay off your debt, while charging unconscionable, undeserved management fees. Paying the steepest price are the employees whose hard work makes the company profitable. But our members will not sacrifice their retirement security, so a handful of greedy billionaires can get even richer.” Details are included in a report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project and UFCW Local 400. Supermarket workers and their supporters staged a series of actions on Thursday to protest the harm private equity is inflicting on American workers and to demand that management fulfill its pledge to protect their pension. “We’re the reason our customers come back to Safeway to shop,” said Michelle Lee, a 32-year veteran of Safeway who works at store #1283 in Alexandria, VA. “We’re making Cerberus their profits. The workers who stick around and help this company become a multi-billion dollar company need to be taken care of when we retire. The CEO gets a pension and so should we.”
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