Battle Lines: Supermarkets in midddle of AWG-Teamsters showdown

Don Ramsey is worried about whether Strafford will have a grocery store in coming moths.

The store Ramsey owns is the only one in Strafford, and the grocer thinks union pickets could put him out of business.

Teamsters have been picketing and handbilling in front of Ramsey's store, the Apple Market, and in front of other Associated Wholesale Grocer member stores. Ramsey said the store has lost about 50 percent of its business since the Teamsters' efforts began.

"We're so small that something like this will put us out of business. If the Teamsters are successful in persuading people not to shop here, it will be a great enough loss to us that it will force us to close," Ramsey said.

He said that union members have told him to send a message to AWG, but "that doesn't make logical sense."

"They've told me I'm a voting member and I have control over AWG; I don't have any more control over them than I do IBM. We are stockholders in AWG, so to speak, but they are governed by a board of directors that makes its own decisions," Ramsey said.

He added that large stores "probably do have influence," but that smaller ones, such as his, do not carry as much weight.

Jim Kabell, business manager of the Teamsters Local 245, said it was not the intention of the union to hurt the stores.

"We care about those stores and their employees, too. We don't want to displace those workers. We want to send a message to AWG," Kabell said.

Ramsey said he thought it was the union's strategy to close the small stores such as his, in order to hurt AWG financially.

"All it will hurt, though, is this town, and the families of those people who work here and those who shop here," Ramsey said.

Ramsey said AWG was his "only logical choice" for a grocery supplier, and that he's been satisfied with the relationship.

"AG's really good, one of the best wholesalers in the country," Ramsey said.

Erick Taylor, president of Ramey's Price Cutter, said his Springfield stores have actually seen an increase in business since the pickets began.

"The sales are up in all stores this week. The community appears to be supporting us during this effort," Taylor said.

Ramey's Price Cutter has nine stores in the area, and all of the company's 29 stores in Missouri and Kansas are served by AWG and have been since the 1960s.

Taylor said his concerns were over the perception that AWG's profits were up, and that therefore the company did not need to save money by outsourcing its warehouse and trucking operations.

"AWG's profits are up, but the member stores' (profits) are not up. It's unfair to say AWG's profits are up when ours are not, and we are the ones who need AWG to become more efficient so we can save money," Taylor said.

Taylor said the grocery industry has seen a number of independent stores close, which has led to the elimination of jobs throughout southwest Missouri.

"We have to be competitive; the pressure is there," Taylor said. "AWG is just trying to keep competitive so that all of us can survive in an industry where independents are in danger."

If AWG cannot supply stores like Ramey's at competitive prices, those stores will not survive in an era when mega-markets, with substantial buying power, are popping up all around, he said.

"We have to operate very lean. We buy our groceries where we can get the best cost, and for us, there's no one better than AWG for that now," Taylor said.

Dillon's stores, which purchase dry goods from AWG, declined to comment about whether the picketing has affected business.

Kabell said his members "don't want to hurt any stores, and that's the truth."

"These stores have a voice and a vote in what AWG does, and we want them to use that voice to tell AWG this is wrong," Kabell said.