South Country Co-op Vote Update

Medicine Hat South Country Co-op Workers Vote to Negotiate Stronger Together

On February 12, 2007 UFCW 373A merged with UFCW 401 to create one union for both bargaining units. Although they were now with the same union, the Collective Agreements had to be negotiated and voted on separately (retail being one bargaining unit and meat & deli being another). By conducting a merger vote to combine both bargaining units they have now become one and can be negotiated and ratified as a single bargaining unit, giving them less chance of being divided.

On March 31, 2016 Local 401 held a vote with both the meat & deli bargaining unit and retail bargaining unit to see if they were inclined to merge both Collective Agreements into one during this set of negotiations. It was the Local’s position that it would give them a stronger voice through negotiations and allow them to be one single larger group with more bargaining power should get into a difficult situation.

The retail membership voted 100% to merge, and the meat & deli employees voted 87% to merge. We are thrilled with the clear majority support and we look forward to negotiating as one group.

We want to thank the members for supporting their workplace and making their union stronger. Please keep an eye out for more information as we proceed through the bargaining process.

Posted on: April 05,2016