Safeway workers to decide on strike mandate
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/02/2018 (2988 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Hundreds of Safeway workers will be asked to give a strike mandate after the union broke off contact negotiations with Sobeys West Inc.
Jeff Traeger, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 832, said the company, which has 23 Safeway stores in Manitoba, 18 of which are in Winnipeg, is telling the union it plans to close grocery stores unless the workers agree to cuts.
“It’s like bargaining with a gun to your head,” Traeger said on Thursday.
“It’s a really bad situation for our members.”
Traeger said it’s similar to what’s happening to Safeway workers in British Columbia. Last month the union said the company was closing 10 stores in that province, but if it received favourable terms and conditions for its FreshCo discount banner stores it could open five of those in the shuttered Safeway locations.
“We sat down hoping to get answers and to push towards a fair contract, but the company stated loud and clear, they are only interested in gutting your collective agreement,” he said.
“They then resorted to the same bullying and intimidation tactics used in B.C., stating that they will be closing stores in Manitoba, but how many will depend on how much we agree to their terms.”
Traeger said the union will now be holding meetings to allow its members to vote to give a strike mandate.
He said the union will then go back to the table on March 5 with what he hopes will be “an overwhelming strike mandate.
“We’ve been bargaining for the workers there for five decades. There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get the workers to where they are now and it seems Sobeys wants to turn the clock back to the 1960s and 1970s.”
Traeger said many workers, because of the wages, pension plan, and benefits they receive, have stayed loyal to the company and worked there for decades.
“At the Madison (Street) store there are two receivers there, one with 44 years and another with 41 years — that’s two guys with 85 years of service between them.”
The union contract expires on March 17.
Jacquelin Weatherbee, Sobeys’ director external communications, said “we’re committed to continue working with the union to land on a deal that will work for everyone.”
UFCW local 832 represents more than 2,200 members at Safeway stores across Manitoba.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca