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C&S Wins Auction, Judge Approves Sale
C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. won the auction to purchase AWI/White Rose. The auction, which was competitive between C&S and SUPERVALU, was held last Friday, October 24th at the offices of AWI/White Rose’s bankruptcy council in Philadelphia, PA.
After being named the highest and best bidder by AWI/White Rose early Saturday morning, the sale order approving C&S as the purchaser was confirmed on Wednesday, October 29th by US Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J Carey. C&S is scheduled to take over the business as early as November 10th or November 11th. In the unlikely event that C&S does not complete the sale, SUPERVALU is designated as the back-up bidder.
All Teamster Local Unions ratified the amended contract terms negotiated with C&S. The terms of those agreements will go into effect upon the finalization of the sale of AWI/White Rose to C&S.
“We recognize this was a difficult choice for all Teamster members at AWI/White Rose,” said Steve Vairma, Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division. “No one is ever pleased to be offered a choice of concessions or their jobs, but ultimately that’s what this came down to. The fact that AWI/White Rose was in bankruptcy and proposed such a quick timeline for sale was an indication of the precarious nature of its business.”
“Both the Teamsters Warehouse Division and Local Union leaders worked franticly under extremely tight deadlines to come up with the best deal that offered a path to preserve jobs. Our goal was to get the best deal and then put the ultimate decision of acceptance or rejection in the hands of the Teamster AWI/White Rose members to determine their fate. While this was a difficult decision, AWI/White Rose Teamsters should know that their Local Union leaders, Teamsters staff, and outside counsel worked extremely hard to produce the best outcome – which includes ensuring payment of accumulated but unused vacation time (up to $1.28 million) for the bargaining unit members, ” added Vairma.
Updates and other information on the bankruptcy can be found at teamster.org/awi-whiterose