Giant Eagle Team Members Overwhelmingly Ratify New Four-Year Contract

Collaborative effort between Giant Eagle and United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1776 Keystone State results in new agreement covering more than 5,000 essential workers and includes improved opportunities for current and future Team Members

PITTSBURGH, PA – On July 21 and 22, Giant Eagle Team Members represented by UFCW Local 1776 overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year agreement that improves wages and benefits for Team Members who serve Pittsburgh area customers.  The new agreement covers approximately 5,300 current Team Members working in 35 corporate-owned Giant Eagle supermarket locations in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

“Our members turned out to vote 90% in favor of this new agreement. I want to thank our bargaining committee for all their hard work negotiating a great agreement for our members,” said Local 1776 president Wendell Young IV, “This agreement increases wages across the board, strengthens retirement programs, and maintains the excellent health and welfare benefit our members have at zero dollar member contribution.”

Young continued, “I am very proud of the work our members did on this bargaining committee. We were able to keep the discussion going with the company and through collaboration and open dialogue and found solutions to important issues. Our members care deeply about the work they do, serving their communities and they appreciate the respect the company’s representatives showed them during this process.”  In addition to the increased wages and maintenance of health benefits, the new agreement also includes non-discrimination protections for gender, gender expression, and gender identity, an important protection for LGBTQ+ members.

“We very much appreciate the continued collaborative and innovative spirit that the UFCW Local 1776 leadership team and our Team Members on the bargaining committee brought to these negotiations,” said Giant Eagle Executive Vice President Bill Artman, “The ratification of this agreement by the Team Members it positively impacts is both very exciting and gratifying.” Artman continued, “This agreement demonstrates our appreciation of the exemplary work of our Team Members, particularly over the last 18 months, and it ensures that we continue to provide our communities with the highest quality of products and service.”

UFCW Local 1776 serves workers in the grocery, retail, food manufacturing, health care and medical cannabis industries throughout Pennsylvania, the Ohio Valley and Hudson Valley, and is proud to be a voice for the 35,000 workers they represent.

Giant Eagle is a Pittsburgh-based food, fuel, and pharmacy retailer with more than 470 locations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland.

Pastor Rod Smith Discussed Helping a Neighbor With A Night Of Food, Fun, and Music on Teleforum

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) Pastor Rod Smith from Mountain Ministries joined Eddy Crow on Teleforum Tuesday morning, July 27, 2021, on 1230 WBVP/ 1460 WMBA, and 99.3 FM to discuss an event coming up on August 18, 2021 titled a Night of Food, Fun, and Music.

The event is a fundraising campaign to help put Mount Pleasant Church in Darlington. The church recently suffered a devastating fire on May 24, 2021.

The event is being held August 18, 2021 at Prayer Mountain Retreat Center located at 114 Fisher Drive, Darlington, Pa. 16115. The event starts at 5:00 PM and music starts at 7:00 PM. A BBQ Dinner will be provided by McGee Smokehouse and there will be a silent auction, games, games, prizes, music, and fellowship.

You can hear Pastor Rod’s interview  from this morning by clicking the play button below:

 

 

 

Hopewell Commissioners Hear Complaint About Property Use

Story and Photos by Sandy  Giordano

(Hopewell Twp., Pa.)  A resident of Gringo-Clinton Road in Hopewell Township addressed the commissioners at  Monday night’s meeting concerning  a tree service being operated on Bethlehem Church road near his home. The area is zoned residential, according to township code and zoning officer John Bates. He said an application for grading on the property has been sent to the property owner, and the township hasn’t received it yet. If the application’s not received the business owner will be cited by the township.

All bids for road improvements were rejected based on the township engineer’s recommendation.. The township will  advertise to have the project rebid on July 31, 2021.
A new part time police officer Cameron Grace was hired based on Police Chief Don Sedlacek’s recommendation.  Grace will be paid $18.75  an hour.

Commissioner’s chairman Rich Bualini speaks with  Township Manager Jamie  Yurcina and Police Chief Donald Sedlacek.

Lawyer Says Governor Candidate Struck Motorcycle, Not Driver

By MARK SCOLFORO and MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The lawyer for Charlie Gerow, a Republican candidate for governor, says it appears Gerow didn’t hit the motorcyclist who was killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last week. Lawyer Joseph P. Green Jr. also says Gerow wasn’t driving impaired. Green says it appears that the motorcycle was lying in the roadway when Gerow hit it, impaling it on his Mercedes. An attendee at the political fundraiser Gerow had been attending in suburban Philadelphia last Wednesday evening said she did not see him drinking and that he seemed sober when he left. The accident shut down the Pennsylvania Turnpike for seven hours and left motorcyclist Logan Carl Abbott dead.

Lifesteps Child Check Program will Provide FREE Developmental and Autism Screenings

(File Photo)

Lifesteps Child Check program will provide FREE developmental and autism screenings for children birth to age five at the Lifesteps Beaver County Program Center in Brighton Twp. on Monday August 9, 2021.

Through Lifesteps Child Check program, parents are provided with knowledge on their child’s
current state of development and guided to resources when delays are detected. The
screening is a brief assessment using games and activities to determine a child’s current level
of development.
A Child Check screening takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and the results are
discussed immediately with parents/guardians. Appointments for in-person or online
screenings are required and can be scheduled by calling Lifesteps at 724-283-1010 or 1-800-225-2010.

Unknown Motorist Hits Warrendale Toll Plaza. Pa State Police Need the Publics Help.

(File Photo)

(Warrendale, Pa.) Pa State Police in Gibsonia are reporting that an unknown vehicle side swiped the brick of lane one of the Warrendale Toll Plaza as they were traveling through lane two. The impact caused minor damage to the metal roof flashing and the corner bricks.
Troopers say via release that the incident occurred sometime between July 22, 2021 at 10 PM and 10:00 AM on July 23, 2021.

Anyone who witnessed this incident occur are encouraged to contact Trooper Kevin S. Vresh at the Pa State Police Barracks in Gibsonia at 724-443-5907

A Night of Food, Music, and Fun. Pastor Rod Smith on Teleforum Today to Explain

(Beaver Falls, Pa.) Tune in to 1230 WBVP/ 1460 WMBA/ 99.3 FM and beavercountyradio.com as Pastor Rod Smith from Mountain Ministries will join Eddy Crow at 9:10 AM this morning, July 27, 2021 to discuss an event coming up on August 18, 2021 titled a Night of Food, Fun, and Music.

The event is a fundraising campaign to help put Mount Pleasant Church in Darlington. The church recently suffered a devastating fire on May 24, 2021.

The event is being held August 18, 2021 at Prayer Mountain Retreat Center located at 114 Fisher Drive, Darlington, Pa. 16115. The event starts at 5:00 PM and music starts at 7:00 PM. A BBQ Dinner will be provided by McGee Smokehouse and there will be a silent auction, games, games, prizes, music, and fellowship.

Researchers Identify Groups Hesitant About COVID-19 Vaccine

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) A study conducted by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh found that vaccine hesitancy decreased among U.S. adults by one-third between January and May 2021. While tentative people are concerned about COVID-19 vaccine safety and potential side effects, those with stronger views tend to distrust the government.

The researchers published their results on medRxiv, a preprint website, and announced their results today, ahead of peer-reviewed publication.

The scientists, Robin Mejia, Ph.D., M.P.H., special faculty at the CMU Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and senior author on the paper, and Wendy C. King, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health and first author, reviewed the responses of approximately 1 million Americans per month to assess trends in vaccine acceptance. The researchers partnered with the Delphi Group at CMU, which runs an ongoing national COVID-19 survey in collaboration with the Facebook Data for Good group.

The survey asked people whether they would take a vaccine were it offered to them today. People who said “probably not” or “definitely not” were considered to be vaccine hesitant.

Wendy King, Ph.D.

Mejia and King analyzed the data by race, education, U.S. region and Trump support in the 2020 election to assess time trends and how each group’s outlooks changed regarding vaccination. The data from May provides the current relationship between a broad range of factors and vaccine acceptance.

The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a Ph.D.); by May Ph.D.’s were the most hesitant group. While vaccine hesitancy decreased across virtually all racial groups, Blacks and Pacific Islanders had the largest decreases, joining Hispanics and Asians at having lower vaccine hesitancy than whites in May.

Those from counties with higher Trump support in the 2020 presidential election showed higher hesitancy, and the difference in hesitancy between areas with high and low Trump support grew over the period studied. “This finding really highlights the politicization of public health recommendations,” said King.

“What’s concerning is there is a subset of the population that’s got strong levels of hesitancy, as in refusal to take the vaccine, not potential concern about it, and the size of that group isn’t changing,” said Mejia.

Among the most recalcitrant, commonly cited reasons included not trusting the vaccine and not trusting the government, while less hesitant groups were more inclined to explain they were waiting to see if the vaccine is safe. The researchers believe that different approaches are necessary to address these concerns.

“In all the other levels of vaccine intent we saw change over time. The lack of change in prevalence of the ‘definitely not’ group implies those with strong feelings about the vaccine are not likely to change easily,” said King. “Thinking about how to reach that group and having messaging and incentives that that group will respond to is important.”

A decrease in disparities by educational attainment and race was found. The researchers believe that targeted campaigns may have increased vaccine acceptance and access.

“There have been racial disparities in every aspect of the pandemic from how hard different communities have been hit by it to access to healthcare resources,” said Mejia. “There’s been concerns about access to vaccines in the rollout, and initially there was a wide disparity in acceptance of the vaccine, so to see over time that’s decreased was really encouraging.”

(click for high-res image)
Robin Mejia, Ph.D., M.P.H.
CREDIT: CMU

The study also highlights key differences in hesitancy by race and age subgroups. For example, in May, younger Black people are more hesitant than younger white people, while the reverse is true in older populations.  Generally, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was higher among the young (ages 18-24), non-Asian people and less educated (high school diploma or less) adults, and those with Ph.D.s, with a history of a positive COVID-19 test, not worried about serious illness from COVID-19 and living in regions with greater support for Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

The researchers hope that their detailed analysis, which also includes a review of reasons for hesitancy by racial group, will help policymakers identify vaccine-resistant pockets to ensure the country reaches herd immunity.

“Understanding the trends over the last several months is really important for projecting what may happen in the next couple months,” said King.

Survey respondents reported average education levels higher than the general population, and participants had greater vaccine uptake compared to the general population. This limitation suggests the percentage of people who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine is likely higher.

“I remain concerned about reaching the most hesitant subgroup of Americans,” said Mejia. “The only way to end this pandemic for real is to get enough people vaccinated that we can reduce the speed of new variants spreading.”

Additional authors on this research are Max Rubinstein, M.P.P., and Alex Reinhart, Ph.D., both of CMU.

This research was supported by Facebook and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research grant.

AAA: Western PA Gas Prices Lower; National Average Decreases

AAA: Western PA Gas Prices Lower; National Average Decreases
Gas prices in Western Pennsylvania are one cent lower this week at $3.304 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                 $3.304
Average price during the week of July 19, 2021                                       $3.311
Average price during the week of July 27, 2020                                       $2.447

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$3.252      Altoona
$3.293      Beaver
$3.366      Bradford
$3.342      Brookville
$3.300      Butler
$3.347      Clarion
$3.268      DuBois
$3.340      Erie
$3.271      Greensburg
$3.299      Indiana
$3.246      Jeannette
$3.292      Kittanning
$3.297      Latrobe
$3.343      Meadville
$3.363      Mercer
$3.247      New Castle
$3.290      New Kensington
$3.359      Oil City
$3.282      Pittsburgh

$3.297      Sharon
$3.285      Uniontown
$3.358      Warren
$3.261      Washington

Trend Analysis:

Motorists saw some positive change at the pump on the week with 31 state gas price averages declining one to five cents. The national gas price average dropped two cents to $3.15. One factor contributing to the decrease was U.S. gasoline demand remained relatively flat on the week.

At this point, it is too early to say if cheaper pump prices will be sustained or continue their downward trend. Part of the unknown is due to fluctuating crude prices, which dropped to a low of $66 per barrel last Monday, but were back over $70 per barrel by the end of the week. Prices initially dropped following news from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that they have reached a deal to increase production in August. However, that promise has been compromised by concerns about the rise in COVID case numbers and how that could negatively affect global demand.

For pump prices to push less expensive, OPEC will need to follow through with its production increases, crude will need to sell consistently at lower prices and the market will need to adjust to the potential resurgence of COVID cases. If these factors prove true consistently, pump prices could be less expensive in August, though the national average could still be at or above the $3 per gallon mark.

Since the beginning of July, gas prices have averaged $3.14. Today’s national average is more expensive on the month (+6 cents) and the year (+97 cents).

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 73 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.