Superstore: Company Looks to Cut Hours
Edmonton – July 14, 2021 – UFCW 401 will be back at the negotiating table with Superstore again next week, from July 19 to 23. We will be joined by mediator Mia Norrie (you can learn more about Mia by clicking here). If you would like to know more about mediation, you can watch this quick video on the process.
“It is our hope that Mia will be able to get Superstore to remove their hour-cutting proposals and start to negotiate towards a serious deal,” says UFCW 401 Secretary-Treasurer Richelle Stewart. “After the amazing work that Superstore members performed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unacceptable for Superstore to try and take away hard-won victories that were achieved in the last set of negotiations.”
If the mediator cannot get the company to move away from their concessionary proposals, we will have to take a strike vote. For more information about the process around going on strike, you can watch our new video “The Right to Strike.”
Hours are a vital issue, but there are also unresolved issues surrounding benefits, wage increases, and job protection that need to be addressed in negotiations.
Superstore is refusing to end its policy of age discrimination against employees over the age of 65. Superstore has agreed to provide health and welfare benefits to employees over 65 in Ontario. Yet still, they refuse to give those same benefits to workers in Alberta. We ask all employees to stand strong beside our fellow members in Central Canada and tell Superstore that a worker is a worker regardless of age. All workers deserve to be treated fairly.
“We know all Superstore members deserve a fair deal with increases to hours and wages, as well as benefit improvements,” Stewart adds. “UFCW 401 has a 100-million-dollar strike fund, and we used it to take on Canada’s largest grocery chain in the last round of negotiations. We won then and will not hesitate to use the fund this time.”
It is time to start preparing for a strike. The UFCW 401 Superstore Negotiating Committee will continue to push the company for a fair offer, but it is time for members to start preparing for a strike.
For a summary of negotiations so far, visit the UFCW 401 website to review our negotiation updates.
Posted on: July 14,2021