Shaw’s to shift corporate jobs to India

[OhioChick]

Source: IndUS Business Journal

2/17/2009

Mass.-based supermarket to drop 50 tech workers

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Massachusetts-based grocery store chain Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc. is gradually laying off about 50 technology workers from its West Bridgewater corporate headquarters and shifting their work to India.

Shaw’s spokeswoman Judy Chong said the layoffs began in August and will continue through February. Chong said the shift of jobs to India will help the company remain competitive.

“Part of our strategy to succeed in a very competitive marketplace is to have a multi-geographic workforce,” Chong said.

But customers outside the chain’s Porter Square location in Cambridge voiced concern over the plan and the welfare of the displaced workers.

“I think it’s terrible. In this economy, I think it’s going to be a disaster for those people,” said Anita Turner, a Cambridge resident, as she loaded groceries into her car. “It doesn’t exactly make you proud to shop here.”



Read more: http://www.indusbusinessjournal.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=3ADF503291D948DA8870C9E2337BAE3B

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More jobs lost....

[msongs]

1. Judy Chong will see it differently when HER job is offshored nt

[daggahead]

2. Those 50 American workers should walk away, right now! n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

6. I agree...

They all should threaten to walk out tomorrow. Offer to work under 1099 for double the pay, only until they find something else. This company will only use them to train their counterparts in India. This bullshit has gotta stop.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Well, I guess no more Shaw's for me.

I kind of liked the option of not having to go Stop & Shop, but now they both suck.

[spartan61]

4. I feel the same as you.

I plan to only shop at Hannaford's and to hell with Shaw's.

[DS1]

5. I'll leave a note at the Shaws telling them while I'll be shopping at Market Basket from now on

those bastards.

[Theres-a]

7. Stop and shop for me.

Bastards.

[undeterred]

8. "to have a multi-geographic workforce"

What a load of crap. Try "to guiltlessly hire people who will work for lower pay and no benefits" even if it means screwing over American workers. How does having corporate staff in India help American supermarkets? I would boycott them if they were in my region of the country.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. I'm surprised that they found printable quotes from the Porter Square location.

That used to be my "Stah Mahket" when I lived in Somerville.

The sad thing is that the Shaw's brand name was developed in Maine and when the chain was acquired by the latter day BPM management they trashed it.

[Sydnie]

14. BPM didn't trash it the way that Albertson's have and now they are

SuperValu which is making this move. Not a good business model for a local company but is functional for the size of company that is SuperValu. Grocery chains have gone the way of all other major businesses, they are fast becoming owned by a smaller and smaller group of companies, just operating under seperate banners depending on the geography.

My company did work in that location for decades until they were overrun with rodents. They had so many rodents that I was told by my employee that they were running back and forth across the aisle that she thought they were playing soccer. When our person asked the employees if they knew about the rodents, they weren't alarmed but rather asked her how large they were and told her she had only seen the babies then. The company finally stopped working in that location when our employee picked up a box of raisins only to have a tail and two eyes greet her from the back of the box. Shaw's can't compete pricewise or square footage wise anymore, so they are closing more and more locations too.

[Gormy Cuss]

18. If you ever went to a Shaw's in Maine before it was sold, it was a well run and clean place.

I grew up in southern Maine and knew many who were so loyal to the place that they shopped nowhere else. Once it was sold it only took a couple of years for Hannafords to get that market share. I also knew lifers from Shaw's who left in that same interval. There may be a connection.

The Porter Star was a huge moneymaker from what I've been told - an amazing amount of sales per square foot. The dog was the Beacon St. location a mile or so away, even though that was a bigger store with a dedicated parking lot. It was foot traffic that made the Porter location so successful and that increased after the subway station opened. I was living there at the time and the subway construction created rodent problems all through the neighborhood (I'm not suggesting that is related to your anecdote, just thought of it because you wrote about the tailed vermin. I haven't lived in that area post-Star Market era.)

[high density]

10. Greeaaaaat

I've got Hannaford which can't keep credit or debit card info secure.
Shaw's, which hates America.
Super Wal-Mart, which hates America even more

Maybe I need to go back to Hannaford.

[stillcool]

11. 50 workers? Too bad they don't lower

their prices to stay competitive. If they are that hard up they should close some stores. Make room for more Market Baskets.

[daggahead]

12. If there were a Shaw's near me, I'd make it a point ...

to stop by and tell the store manager why I will no longer shop there, and neither will my friends.

[skyounkin]

13. No more Shaws for me.

Hannafords it is.

[No Elephants]

15. Dear Ms. Turner: There are other supermakets near you. Put up or shut up.

[brentspeak]

17. Bizarre post on your part

Somehow, you're barking at the wrong person.

[Lost in CT]

16. They closed the local Shaw's here... crappy store and good riddance.

[ihavenobias]

19. To the greatest n/t