Labor & Employment

Washington -- Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 2.3% in January over the same month last year as retailers continue to urge labor and management to avoid a strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast docks, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. A strike would close 14 ports from Maine to Texas where nearly 15,000 dockworkers handle 40% of the nation’s ocean cargo.


Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores announced that Enrique Ostale, president and CEO of Walmart Chile, formerly D&S, has been named EVP, president and CEO of Walmart Latin America, where he will oversee Walmart's operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua.

CHICAGO — Jay Dettling was named president of Acquity Group, a global e-commerce an digital marketing company.

Dettling will lead North American Services and in addition to identifying strategic expansion targets, he will be charged with evolving Acquity Group's current service offerings in strategic, creative and technical practice areas to keep pace with technological advances and changing market conditions.

Walmart has committed $670,000 to help fund a first-of-its-kind program in its home state known as the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII).

MINNEAPOLIS — In a move that will reunite all Albertsons stores under one operator, Supervalu on Thursday morning announced a definitive agreement under which it will sell 877 stores across the Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market banners and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies to AB Acquisition, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, in a transaction valued at $3.3 billion.

More than a dozen executives in Walmart’s merchandising organization will begin the new fiscal year with different responsibilities following a restructuring announced on Thursday.

An internal announcement from Duncan Mac Naughton, Walmart’s chief merchandising and marketing officer detailed the moves involving executives with responsibilities for food, consumables, health and wellness, general merchandise, merchandise execution and private label.

SUFFERN, N.Y. — Ascena Retail Group reported a lower than expected 2% decline in same store sales at physical stores for the November and December holiday period, but managed a 30% increase in online sales.

Combined comparable store and e-commerce sales for the holiday period ended December 29, 2012 increased 1%, prompting Ascena to lower earnings per share guidance for its current fiscal year ending July 27.

Washington, D.C. -- The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to minus 34.4 in the seven days ended Jan. 6 from minus 31.8 the prior period, the biggest one-week drop since August. Jobless claims increased by 4,000 to 371,000 in the week ended Jan. 5, according to Labor Department figures.

New York -- According to multiple reports on Thursday, congressmen Henry Waxman (D-Rep., Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Rep. Md.) have said that Wal-Mart Stores CEO Mike Duke and other senior-level officials at the retailer were informed about allegations of bribery in the retailer’s operations in Mexico in 2005.

The two congressmen cited documentation obtained by their staffs, which discussed allegations of corruption regarding a store in Teotihuacan.

Philadelphia and New York -- Law firm Duane Morris announced that it has named partners Chester Lee in New York and George Kroculick in Philadelphia as co-chairs of its firmwide Real Estate Practice Group.

Lee and Kroculick succeed partner Marc Brookman in heading the practice.

Lee and Kroculick will take over a national practice involving more than 90 lawyers with broad experience in real estate and development matters.