Rite Aid's Statement Regarding Southern California Strike Authorization. (Enhanced)

I can honestly say their whole statement is here. Every word they sent. I may have added a few for clarity:

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The specifics of our proposal are matters we will be discussing at the bargaining table with the Union as we continue to work hard to reach a fair agreement for all involved.

We’re disappointed that the Union has called for a strike authorization vote and think such a vote is premature, especially since the Union hasn’t even given us a counter proposal to our first proposal.

With respect to healthcare, we’re simply asking associates to pay their fair share towards the cost of their healthcare, just as millions of people do across the country. We’re not unusual. According to one of the leading benefit consultants Towers Watson, 100% of retailers surveyed ask their employees to share the cost of healthcare insurance. The union only wants its members to pay a minimal amount for their healthcare coverage, but few if any companies in America can afford to provide that today. And as a company, we have decided it's important not to offer incentives that would allow us to attract any of the highest caliber employees in the talent pool. By being as miserly as our competition, we will ensure that the chances the people we put forth to be the face of our company are miserable, stressed out and lacking in incentive to excel are maximized

We basically took a look at K-Mart's people and said, "Yeah, that's what we want"

Of course this kind of philosophy cannot be extended throughout the company. It is critical that the people who make the strategic decisions and plot the direction of an entire organization be well compensated for their efforts. So it should be obvious why we chose to spend some of our limited resources to give our CEO and Chairman, John Standley a 292% pay raise in 2011, to a package worth $11,000,000. Without the proper incentives for performance,  a corporation simply cannot attract the kind of person able to achieve results in today's cutthroat business environment. And we'd like to think the numbers John's put up speak for themselves:

-Extending our string of profitless years to six, and counting.

-Sixteen million dollars of cash flow in fiscal 2011. We think you'll agree that spending an amount of money on the salaries of two people, our CEO and Chief Financial Officer, that is greater than a year's cash flow is a truly innovative, outside the box business strategy.

-A super secret plan to pay off the company's $6.2 billion debt. We can't divulge many of the plan's details, but it involves giving large bonuses and raises to top executives while telling rank and file employees who want sick pay to go fuck themselves.

Quite simply, if we didn't spend what it takes to keep our executive team, we as a company might suffer mediocre to poor financial performance. We can't take that risk.

Rite Aid has and will continue to work with UFCW locals representing their associates to reach a new agreement, one that is fair to all parties involved. In fact, we have bargaining sessions set for the next three weeks and look forward to getting back to the table.