C&S Wholesale Grocers

C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery items. With headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S is the seventh largest privately held company in the United States, as listed in 2006 by "Forbes Magazine".

C&S provides 53,000 food and nonfood items to 5,000 retail locations, including produce, meat, dairy products, delicatessen products, fresh/frozen bakery items, health and beauty aids, candy and tobacco.

C&S customers include Pathmark, Safeway, Giant Food Stores, Shaw's, Stop and Shop, A&P Supermarkets, Big Y Foods, BJ's Warehouse, Target, Great American, SavMart/Foodmax, Demoulas and independent store/supermarket owner/operators.

Additional facts taken from the company's public profile include:

* Sales for 2006 are projected to surpass $20 billion
* Staff of over 20,000 associates
* Since its founding as a single warehouse in Massachusetts, C&S has broadened to over 60 facilities in 14 states
* Storage space of over convert|18000000|sqft|m2

Lawsuit

In April 2006, three former, and one current C&S employee filed a nationwide class action in U.S. District Court [http://www.masslive.com/business/republican/index.ssf?/base/business-0/1144396113326200.xml&coll=1 Class action status sought for C&S suit] , "masslive.com"] [http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5397894/Employees-of-C-S-Wholesale.html Employees of C&S Wholesale Grocers File $750m Class Action Suit] , "ecnext.com"] . The lawsuit details how C&S, the second-largest wholesale grocery store supplier in the U.S., violates federal and state laws by illegally chopping workers' wages as punishment for mistakes on the job; failing to pay overtime; failing to pay for time worked in excess of 10 hours; failing to pay employees their agreed hourly rates; and encouraging employees to work off-the-clock and through lunch without pay. Sanford, Wittels & Heisler, LLP represented the plaintiffs.

"To make matters worse," explains the lead attorney for the workers, "C&S punishes an entire team of workers for one person's mistake. C&S employees work in 4-8 member 'selection' teams. If one team member makes an error, for example selecting a case of apple juice instead of grape juice, C&S collectively punishes everyone on that team and cuts their pay."

"C&S is punishing its low-income workers at the same time the company is projecting record revenues of $18 billion this year," said the co-lead counsel in the case. "Meanwhile, the hard-working employee making those profits possible has little choice but to keep quiet about the company's sweatshop practices or lose his job."

In its defense, C&S denied any wrongdoing and says that the suit is without merit. The company also said that the team structure does not violate any law or regulation. "C&S is very proud of its self-managed teams, which are the cornerstone of creating an empowered and engaged work force," the firm said. The statement said industry analysts and academic researchers have praised the team concept. [http://www.masslive.com/business/republican/index.ssf?/base/business-0/114448239787450.xml&coll=1 Class-action suit targets C&S grocer] , "masslive.com"]

External links

* [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/21/biz_06privates_CS-Wholesale-Grocers_HFCA.html Forbes Summary of C&S]
* [http://www.hoovers.com/c&s-wholesale/--ID__40076--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml Hoover's Entry on C&S]
* [http://www.cswg.com C&S Web Site]
* [http://www.cswg.com/pages/aboutcns.htm C&S Public Profile]

References