By now the news is widespread – A&P Supermarkets, also known as Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co, is filing bankruptcy for the second time in their 156 years of business. The majority of media outlets are spewing competition and debt as the sole cause of the collapse of a company that at one point had 14,000 stores. That’s not the whole story. Following the trajectory of Detroit’s auto industry and Pittsburgh’s steel companies, unions had a role to play in their demise. The increased expense associated with collective bargaining contracts and legacy costs makes it difficult, often impossible, for the company to make ends meet. Of A&P’s remaining 30,000 workers, 15,000 will be lucky to keep their jobs.
