Labor & Employment

HH Gregg president and CEO Dennis May expected the company’s first quarter to be challenging, but he did not envision a 10.2% same store sales decline or a $10.3 million loss.

Brian Cornell’s tenure as Target’s chairman and CEO begins on August 12. Don’t expect it to last long if his track record at other recent employers is any indication.
 
Cornell brings to Target an impressive roster of C-level positions at big name companies — PepsiCo, Sam’s Club, Michael’s, Safeway — but the 55-year-old executive didn’t stick around for long at any of them.
 

E-commerce site Rakuten is expanding its corporate social responsibility efforts with several scholarship opportunities in Japan and around the world.

The cornerstone of its new efforts is its Global Citizens Summit, which will bring together 24 students from around the world at Boston’s Harvard Faculty Club from Aug. 2 to 9. The summit is being hosted with assistance from nonprofit Global Citizens Initiative, which works to build leaders among students, and the participants will meet throughout the week to discuss global issues.

Belk president and chief merchandising officer Kathryn Bufano was named president at CEO of The Bon-Ton Stores late Thursday.

Philadelphia – Net income at Destination Maternity Corp. fell 36% to $5.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $8.6 million a year earlier. Expenses related to the planned relocation of Destination Maternity’s corporate headquarters and distribution facilities, as well as costs related to its proposed and withdrawn merger with Mothercare plc, drove the reduction in net income.

Cincinnati - The Kroger Co. Cincinnati/Dayton Division associates working at Kroger stores in metro and surrounding areas have ratified a new labor agreement with UFCW Local 75. It merges the formerly separate Cincinnati and Dayton contracts.

The contract covers 12,766 associates working in 76 stores in Cincinnati, and 4,945 associates working in 32 stores in Dayton.

Matthews, N.C. – Activist investor Carl Icahn, who had been pressuring Family Dollar to sell the company, has reduced his ownership stake in the company from 9.39% to 6.09%.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) has named Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. and Rep. John Kline, R-Minn.as NRF’s Legislators of the Year. The awards presentation was made during the Retail Advocates Summit, NRF’s annual congressional fly-in.

The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) has named former HEB executive Michael J. Eardley as its new president and CEO. Eardley succeeds Carol Christison, who passed away in March, after leading the association for 31 years.

Eardley will join the IDDBA on August 25 from HEB Grocery Company in San Antonio, Texas, where he has worked for the past 13 years in various roles with increasing responsibility, becoming the director of deli, cheese and prepared foods in 2009.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) is highly critical of a decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recommending that McDonald’s and its franchisees should be considered joint employers. According to the NRF, this move would stall job growth and diminish capital investment by making it easier for fast food workers to unionize.