Rite Aid workers & shareholders will attend company shareholder meeting Thurs, June 21.

News provided by

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO

Jun 19, 2012, 01:12 ET

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Concerned workers, union leaders and shareholders will attend Rite Aid's annual shareholder meeting in Harrisburg, PA on Thursday, June 21 to share their views about the company's continuing problems with mismanagement, poor labor relations and new evidence of age discrimination.

The shareholder meeting will take place at 1:30pm at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg-East, located at 4751 Lindle Road in Harrisburg, PA.

Beginning at 10am in the same location, concerned workers, shareholders and union leaders will hold a "Summit Meeting" with a media briefing at 12 noon.  Summit participants will attend from California, Florida, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. The media briefing will detail Rite Aid's troubled history and the company's failure to address current issues, including:

  • Massive debt obligations incurred in 2007 for an ill-conceived acquisition.
  • Poor performance, as evidenced by underperforming compared to CVS and Walgreens.
  • Net losses for 19 straight quarters.
  • New evidence of age discrimination, based on questionable firings on older workers.
  • Conflicts-of-interest and a lack of independence among Rite Aid Board members.
  • Continuing problems with corporate greed being practiced by company executives.

Rite Aid is the nation's third-largest drug store chain. The company operates 4700 stores in 31 states. The company's stock price has fallen by 80% since June 2007.  Despite reporting losses for 19 straight quarters (the 20th quarter ended on 5/31, but Rite Aid has not reported results yet), company executives have provided themselves with exorbitant pay and perks, including "golden parachutes," private jets, and other luxuries – while demanding cutbacks from employees.

An area of particular concern for Rite Aid employees is the company's ongoing effort to shift burdensome health insurance costs onto workers and taxpayers.

Rite Aid workers have attended four previous shareholder meetings.  Participation at those events helped identify areas of common concern between employees and shareholders.

SOURCE Pennsylvania AFL-CIO

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