Retail workers union alarmed over plans to change Sunday rules

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/07/2021 (1794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon local of Manitoba’s retail workers union is sounding the alarm over proposed changes to legislation allowing employees to refuse Sunday shifts.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832, which represents employees at Brandon’s Safeway and Sobeys West grocery stores, said in a news release Monday the province is considering modifying existing regulations.

Currently, workers can refuse Sunday work as long as they give their employer two weeks notice. The union said the province wants to:

 

• allow employers to ask job applicants to sign a document agreeing to work Sundays; 
• allow Sunday work to be covered by collective agreements between employers and unions; and 
• exempt retailers with four or fewer workers — including the owner — from the legislation.

 

The text of the proposed amendments can be found on the online Manitoba Regulatory Consultation Portal. The changes are intended to address the needs of retailers following the repeal of Sunday and holiday shopping restrictions in December, the provincial government web page on the amendments explains.

UFCW Local 832 president Jeff Traeger said the first exception is the one the union is most concerned with, out of fear that it could lead to discrimination.

“When we first were talking to government about this months ago… we, on the labour side of the table, were arguing that retail workers needed to have the ability to spend time with their family, especially since there’s a good chance their spouse works Monday to Friday and their children go to school Monday to Friday,” Traeger said, adding Finance Minister Scott Fielding accepted the argument and indicated he would protect the right to refuse Sunday work.

“Now they come out with this change to the regulation, which effectively means that going forward, employers will ask people who they’re hiring if they want to work Sundays and if they say yes, (they’ll) sign this and it’ll go in their file and you no longer have the right to refuse Sunday work. If they say no, they simply won’t get hired.”

In an email to the Brandon Sun, Fielding said the current list of exclusions is “outdated and cumbersome.”

“The new proposed exclusions are modernized and simplified… while most Canadian jurisdictions do not have the right to refuse work on a Sunday at all, we want to balance retailers’ needs to maintain adequate staffing levels with employees’ wishes to have Sundays off to enjoy time with family and friends.”

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew told the Sun he believes the proposed changes would “make a loophole that’s bigger than the law.”

“I’m concerned a lot of workers don’t really know about the rights they have under this law,” he said. “Because we’re looking forward to an economic recovery and some of these people want to work, effectively that right will be taken away from people because they’ll sign whatever to rejoin the workforce.”