Acme and its union are nearing a showdown

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, June, 2009 | by Maria Panaritis Inquirer Staff Writer

She is a 54-year-old grocery worker at Acme, a 37-year veteran with the supermarket chain whose name embodies Philadelphia tradition. And today, she will go to church and pray.

For several weeks, Anna Ryan has endured sleepless nights over the vote at the Spectrum tonight on a take-it-or-leave-it contract offer that Acme Markets says it needs to survive, but that union officials say preys on the recession fears of 4,500 grocery workers across Southeastern Pennsylvania.

"Everything that I have worked for could virtually go up in smoke," said Ryan, a full-time office coordinator who started with Acme as a college student at La Salle, just like company president Judith A. Spires, and about the same time, back in the 1970s.

"I have to have faith in God and in the union...