Canadian grocers are basking in record profit: report
Recently, leading Canadian economist and friend of Local 401, Jim Stanford, authored a report that was submitted to the House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee on Canadian grocery profits.
The conclusions of Stanford’s report are damning.
“According to the Centre for Future Work report, grocers have been indulging in healthy margins since mid-2021 as the net income margin on food and beverage retailers has consistently exceeded 3% of total revenues, which is more than double the average margin between 2015 and 2019.
Jim Stanford, an economist with the Centre for Future Work, said the data in the study shows grocers took advantage of the pandemic and its aftermath to increase profits.”
You can read the full report submitted to the House of Commons by clicking here.
President Thomas Hesse and Treasurer Richelle Stewart with Canadian economist Jim Stanford at a February 26, 2023, telephone town hall on the affordability crisis and corporate profits.
Meanwhile, many Canadians are relying on 50% discounts at Loblaw stores just to afford their grocery bills.
UFCW Local 401 has been actively calling on Canada’s grocery giants to Stop the Squeeze and address the global affordability crisis by sharing their record profits with their workers.
Last year, Local 401 won the largest wage increase top-rate and overscale workers at Safeway have seen in thirty years through a Wage Reopener process. While a major victory for those members, your union knows it doesn’t go far enough.
Too many Safeway employees were left out, and working families across the province are struggling under the weight of forty-year high inflation.
In the coming years, we will be bargaining with Loblaw and Sobeys, as well as many other employers across the province. Your union will be fighting with everything we have for wage increases that Stop the Squeeze and meet the needs of ALL of our members.
When workers stand together in strength and solidarity through their union, we can win these fights and build better workplaces and a better world.
Posted on: January 25,2024