Online grocer FreshDirect has partnered with LaGuardia Community College in New York City to offer 60 plant workers free weekly English classes. The 30-hour program will end on October 23. LaGuardia did not disclose how much FreshDirect will pay to subsidize the program.
One class begins at 4:15 a.m. to accommodate workers who start their workday at 6:30 a.m. These workers cut fish and meat, enter shipping data entries, sort, prepare and package food for 40,000 weekly orders at FreshDirect’s 300,000-square-foot plant.
“This is an opportunity for FreshDirect to recognize the needs of their workers and enable them to be more successful,” said Tim Rucinski, director for the college’s Center for Corporate Education.
Others say the company is using the lessons as an opportunity to repair its tarnished image.
The company has been trying to heal from a public relations debacle last December when labor organizations accused it of discouraging union activity and of inviting an investigation by the federal government into whether it had hired undocumented workers. Some 150 FreshDirect employees lost their jobs as a result of the subsequent investigation. Even the company’s chief executive, Richard Braddock, said earlier this year that FreshDirect could have handled the labor matter better.
“It may be more of a public relations stint because they had been getting some heat,” said Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for the supermarket industry.
FreshDirect says the new language program is simply business as usual. It noted its involvement in several community organizations. For example, in June, FreshDirect launched a program with nonprofit City Harvest to bring discounted groceries to neighborhoods in the South Bronx.
“These tailored classes are an investment in the future and are designed to help our employees advance in their careers at FreshDirect and take these skills beyond the classroom,” said Jim Moore, senior vice president of business affairs at FreshDirect, in a statement.
La Guardia has a long history of working with companies in all types of industries in New York City—Queens West in particular—seeking to improve workers’ leadership, management and other necessary work place skills. Over the past four years, the college’s Center for Corporate Education has taught English to workers in the Transport Workers Union and Health Plus.
The college, which has an annual operating budget of $120 million, has 14,100 full-time students enrolled and 50,000 part-timers. Its students speak more than 118 languages and come from 160 countries.
Filed by Amanda Fung of Crain’s New York Business, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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