Local labor leaders, community members and religious leaders will gather in Janesville this afternoon at a rally to show support for union workers at Woodman's Food Market Inc.
Citizen Action of Wisconsin said it is organizing the rally in support of Woodman's workers who are members of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1473, "who are fighting to keep their union jobs."
Woodman's stores have featured union labor for generations, "But now Phil Woodman (company president and chief executive officer) has hired a high-priced lawyer and a consultant from the East Coast to try and drive out the union at his stores. The union has filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against Woodman's for its illegal actions against workers, and additional charges are expected," the group stated.
The complaints by the union against Woodman's have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
"They are allegations of terminating people because they are union supporters in the stores. They had supervisors actually circulating (union) decertification petitions. This is a very long list of serious charges," said Robert Craig, director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
The UFCW Local 1473 filed complaints on March 14 and 18, alleging approximately 27 violations of federal labor laws by Woodman's, including:

• Supervisors and managers involvement in passing the decertification petitions.
• Threatening employees with deportation and other unspecified acts of reprisal if they supported the union and informing them not to talk in support of the union.
• Retaliating and discriminating against employees, including reducing an employee’s hours.
  Informing employees to lie about their whereabouts in order to avoid testimony to the NLRB.
• Terminating an employee because of his open support for the union.

On April 22, the UFCW Local 1473 filed an additional 28 complaints against Woodman's with the NLRB.
Union officials said the company and the union have had a mutually beneficial and profitable relationship for more than 50 years, but that relationship began to deteriorate in recent years.
Woodman's has had both an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and a unionized workforce for years, Craig said.
"Even though employee-owned sounds like employees are running the store, that's not the case," Craig said.
Today's rally will take place at Palmer Park in Janesville at 4:30 p.m.
The Janesville-based company recently opened a new store in Oak Creek, its first in Milwaukee County.
Phil Woodman could not be reached for comment today.

After months of slumping sales, Kohl's Corp. today reported April same-store sales increased 3.5 percent from the same month a year ago, due in part to improved performance in seasonal categories.
The sales reflect performance at stores opened at least a year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the Menomonee Falls-based same-store sales to increase by 2 percent, on average.
Kohl's said its total sales increased 12 percent in the four-week period ended May 3.
Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We were encouraged by the improvement in our sales performance in April as business in seasonal categories improved. We will be conservative in our inventory planning and expense management as we continue to expect our customers to be cautious in their spending."
As a result of April's performance, Kohl's now expects its annual earnings to exceed its previous guidance of 40 to 42 cents per diluted share.
Other retailers reporting April same-store sales results today included: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., up 3.2 percent; Target Corp., up 3.1 percent; Costco Wholesale Corp., up 8 percent; and J.C. Penny Co., down 1.7 percent.
"The economy continues to get tougher and the 'paycheck cycle' is more pronounced for customers than in past months," said Wal-Mart's Wal-Mart Stores U.S. president and chief executive Eduardo Castro-Wright. "As money gets tighter for them toward the end of the month, sales drop more than we have seen in the past."
Wal-Mart, which is cashing the federal government's economic stimulus checks for free, said it is too early to predict what impact those checks may have on consumer spending.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took a page from Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton's playbook today by introducing a bill that would suspend the federal gas tax for the summer.
Ryan unveiled the Gas Tax Relief and Earmark Moratorium Act of 2008 at today's Joint Hearing before the House Budget Committee and House Transportation Committee, which focused on financing infrastructure investments.
Ryan’s proposal would suspend the federal 18.4-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax for the high-demand summer months. Today's announcement coincides with news that the price of a gallon of gas in southern Wisconsin has set new record highs, averaging roughly $3.80 per gallon in some areas.
With the revenues saved from the earmark moratorium, Ryan said his bill would replenish the Highway Trust Fund, a critical source of funding for the nation’s infrastructure. The Gas Tax Relief and Earmark Moratorium Act would go a step further by shoring up the fund's projected shortfall for the coming fiscal year, Ryan said.
Ryan said the one-year earmark moratorium would provide an estimated $14.8 billion of additional revenue, more than enough to provide Americans relief at the pump and replenish the Highway Trust Fund so that road repairs can continue. Additional earmark savings would be dedicating to reducing the deficit.
"The decisions made by Congress on taxes and spending impact the paychecks of working men and women. By clinging to this broken earmark practice, Congress is picking pork over paychecks, and pork over potholes. Simply saying no to earmarks for the remainder of the year could give folks in Wisconsin some relief at the pump this summer and fix the Highway Trust Fund’s deficit. I am hopeful that Congress will give up its addiction to pork and address the concerns of the American people," Ryan said.

SABMiller plc, the London-based parent company of Miller Brewing Co., announced today that it has agreed to acquire a 99.84-percent interest in the Ukrainian brewer CJSC Sarmat.
The transaction is subject to approval by the Ukrainian competition authorities and other customary pre-closing conditions.
Sarmat is one of the largest brewers in the Ukraine and, upon completion, will operate one brewery in Donetsk in the east of the country with an annual production capacity of 2.9 million hectolitres, producing the Sarmat, Dnipro and Drive Max brands.
Sarmat is owned by System Capital Management Ltd., a diversified holding company that manages a number of interests in the Ukrainian market.
The purchase price of the company is not being disclosed, but the value of the gross assets to be acquired is approximately $130 million.
The acquisition represents SABMiller's entry into one of the fastest-growing beer markets globally with a four-year growth rate to 2006 of 14 percent.
The Ukraine's medium term forecast for beer market growth is expected to be higher than any other major Central and Eastern European (“CEE”) market.
Alan Clark, managing director of SABMiller Europe, said, "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Sarmat and our entry into the fast growing and attractive Ukrainian market.  The Ukrainian beer market has recorded exceptional expansion in recent years, driven by strong economic growth, but it still remains behind other CEE countries in terms of per capita beer consumption."

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. today announced it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission covering an aggregate of up to 6 million shares that could be sold to fund possible future acquisitions by M&I and its subsidiaries.
The registration statement replaces a previous registration statement that was no longer available after M&I's spinoff of Metavante Corp. last November.
The acquisition shelf registration statement filed today will enable Marshall & Ilsley to issue shares of its common stock in one or more possible future acquisition transactions. The transactions may include the acquisition of assets, businesses or securities, whether by purchase, merger or any other form of business combination. The company has no current commitment to issue any of the shares registered.

Irgens Development Partners LLC announced it has promoted Dave Domres to senior vice president of property management.
Domres supervises one of the largest property management teams in the Milwaukee area, managing more than 70 properties totaling more than 4 million square feet of space throughout the United States.
Domres is the 2008 president for the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP)-Wisconsin and past-president of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin. He is currently an international faculty member for the IREM.
"We are pleased to promote Dave to our senior management group." said Mark Irgens, manager and president of Irgens Development Partners. "Dave has been instrumental in strengthening and growing our asset and property management group as well as offering strategic advice for our annual portfolio and customers' portfolios."
Irgens Development Partners has offices in Milwaukee, Chicago and Phoenix. The company's recently moved its Milwaukee office to 10700 Research Drive.

Developer Alex Zabel plans to build a $25 million lakefront development with a 180-room hotel, 20,000-square-foot convention center and marina on the site of the old Chaparral restaurant near North Fond du Lac. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

The Brew City hasn't given up on its bid to be the corporate headquarters of the combined MillerCoors. Read more in Small Business Times executive editor Steve jagler's weekly Milwaukee Biz Blog at OnMilwaukee.com, a media partner of SBT.

The American Subcontractors Association of Wisconsin recently held its annual awards dinner and raised more than $7,000 in donations to Camp HOPE (Helping Others' Pain End). Camp HOPE, located in central Wisconsin, is a place where children and teenagers gather to work through the grieving process after a loved one dies. To view a photographic slideshow from the event, visit the latest edition of SBT Around Town.

The BizTimes Stock Index fell 3.17 points to close at 160.86 Wednesday, but local stocks recovered some lost ground in early morning trading today. The largest local gainers this morning were Wisconsin Energy Corp. (up 60 cents to $47.45) and Joy Global Inc. (up 50 cents to $76.17). The largest local decliners this morning were Manpower Inc. (down 79 cents to $66.42) and Kohl's Corp. (down 76 cents to $47.96). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.