The Fugitive Grandma

Chapter 12 - The Secret Strategy

A week after Nick Lowry first arrived in Santa Ramona, he received a visit from his boss, Ben Jenkins, a senior vice president from the Great American headquarters in Dallas. They met in a downtown hotel suite, where the vice president stayed. Jenkins handed Lowry two folders marked Confidential.

“What are these?” Lowry asked, taking the folders.

“These are your two silver bullets.”

“What do you mean?”

“These will help you solve the two main challenges we face with the Caruso acquisition.

"The first concern is the legacy workforce, with benefits and health plans. As you know, their existing labor contract prevents us from changing these terms. The good news is that we aren’t required to provide these same benefits to new hires.”

“So we drive out the old-timers?”

“That’s right. We’ve issued a new policy on job definition. Moving forward, we make it mandatory that all positions include some hard physical activity, such as gathering shopping carts or unloading crates from the docks. So if some of these dinosaurs can’t keep up with the pace, they’re gone,” Jenkins said matter-of-factly.

“You said there were two silver bullets. What’s the second one?”

“The other big concern is pensions. Caruso’s was one of the last of the old-time supermarket chains with a retiree pension plan providing monthly checks and health insurance. The founder set it up that way and refused to phase it out. Only when he died, his family sold the stores to outside investors and they haven’t paid their premiums into the federal pension insurance fund. So Caruso’s is locked into these pensions they promised, but there’s not even any money set aside at this point. It’s a total mess.”

Lowry nodded as comprehension sank in.

“We had to hold our ground,” Jenkins continued. “So we waited for Caruso’s to go bankrupt before we offered a deal. That gets everyone off the hook. We get the stores. The sellers get an exit. And nobody has to take the pensions.”

“So the retirees are screwed,” Lowry concluded. “Their checks and private insurance are cut off, right?”

“That’s not our problem.”

“What if one of the retirees tries to sue us?” Lowry asked. “Are we protected legally?”

Jenkins chuckled dismissively. “Of course we are. We’re talking about a bunch of old ex-grocery packers who won’t even know what hit them. Let them try and make a case. That’s going to be a fight they can’t win. Under the law, if a company says a pension shouldn’t be paid, then proving otherwise is incumbent on the pensioner. Most of the old-timers don’t know anything about retirement law or corporate restructuring. Even experts have a hard time figuring it out. And no lawyer worth his salt is going to try to help them because the law is too vague.”

Lowry nodded. “OK. I get the picture. So when do the pensioners get cut loose?”

“Should happen soon. But we need to keep this quiet. Make sure it stays out of the local papers. Caruso’s is a cultural institution out here. We don’t want any bad publicity.”

Lowry squinted with concentration. “This could be difficult. I’ve noticed that the workers have a shared history, like they’re some kind of family.”

“That’s why I am telling you this. And I know you can handle it,” Jenkins replied.

“I may need to take some extra measures here, some rough stuff, you understand?”

“Do whatever you have to do to make it happen. Just don’t tell me anything I don’t need to know.”