C&S Wholesale Grocers

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C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery items. With headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S is the seventh largest privately held company in the United States, as listed in 2006 by Forbes Magazine.

C&S provides 53,000 food and nonfood items to 5,000 retail locations, including produce, meat, dairy products, delicatessen products, fresh/frozen bakery items, health and beauty aids, candy and tobacco.

C&S customers include Pathmark, Safeway, Giant Food Stores, Shaw's, Stop and Shop, A&P Supermarkets, Big Y Foods, BJ's Warehouse, Target, Great American, SavMart/Foodmax, Demoulas and independent store/supermarket owner/operators.

Additional facts taken from the company's public profile include:

Sales for 2006 are projected to surpass $20 billion
Staff of over 20,000 associates
Since its founding as a single warehouse in Massachusetts, C&S has broadened to over 60 facilities in 14 states
Storage space of over 18,000,000 square feet (1,700,000 m²)

[edit] Lawsuit

In April 2006, three former, and one current C&S employee filed a nationwide class action in U.S. District Court^[1]^[2]. The lawsuit details how C&S, the second-largest wholesale grocery store supplier in the U.S., violates federal and state laws by illegally chopping workers' wages as punishment for mistakes on the job; failing to pay overtime; failing to pay for time worked in excess of 10 hours; failing to pay employees their agreed hourly rates; and encouraging employees to work off-the-clock and through lunch without pay. Sanford, Wittels & Heisler, LLP represented the plaintiffs.

"To make matters worse," explains the lead attorney for the workers, "C&S punishes an entire team of workers for one person's mistake. C&S employees work in 4-8 member 'selection' teams. If one team member makes an error, for example selecting a case of apple juice instead of grape juice, C&S collectively punishes everyone on that team and cuts their pay."

"C&S is punishing its low-income workers at the same time the company is projecting record revenues of $18 billion this year," said the co-lead counsel in the case. "Meanwhile, the hard-working employee making those profits possible has little choice but to keep quiet about the company's sweatshop practices or lose his job."

In its defense, C&S denied any wrongdoing and says that the suit is without merit. The company also said that the team structure does not violate any law or regulation. "C&S is very proud of its self-managed teams, which are the cornerstone of creating an empowered and engaged work force," the firm said. The statement said industry analysts and academic researchers have praised the team concept. ^[3]