Superstore Negotiations Update: 1st Meeting With Loblaw Next Week

In this update, we will be talking about how your Superstore negotiations team has met the challenge of bargaining during the current unique circumstances. Further, we ask you to check out our latest video (linked below) explaining union proposals and encourage you to help build our collective influence by sharing tools like these via social media.

Last week your Superstore negotiations team met, virtually, for the first time. They were familiarized with the technology for virtual meetings and prepared for the first video conference with management using MS-Teams. MS-Teams is the software platform that allows us to have video conferences with our negotiations team. It also enables our team to share documents, discuss and debate proposals together in real-time, and securely conference with the Loblaw bargaining team.

Next week, your 2020 negotiations team will be sitting across the screen from Loblaw for the first time.

And, to help our members better understand the process of negotiating a collective agreement, we have put together video resources that explain the various elements of collective bargaining.

Please check out today’s video explaining what union proposals are and what they try to achieve.

And if you can, check out some of the other resources we have posted on our YouTube channel. As time goes by, we will be adding more video explainers to make the negotiations process simpler to understand. Social media has become a part of everyday life. We encourage everyone to share union updates and information on their social media channels. Follow @ufcw401 on Facebook and Instagram @ufcwlocal401 on twitter.

By participating in this way, we will ensure that the Superstore members are more connected than ever to bargaining and therefore strengthen our positions during negotiations.

The times require us to communicate in new ways. Therefore, we will more frequently invite members to chat with us through text messages, telephone town halls, email surveys, and video updates throughout negotiations.

Additionally, if you want to see the process for yourself, Superstore union members are welcome to sit in on negotiation meetings on their own time.

If this is something you are interested in, please reach out to your Union Labour Relations Officer or write to us at bargaining@ufcw401.ab.ca.

In solidarity,

Your Superstore Negotiations Team