Getting Strike Ready: 99% of Our Members Approve!
“Strike. Strike. Strike.”
Our President’s summation of our virtual General Membership Meeting on February 3rd was those three words. Local 401 is focused on strike readiness across the province.
At that meeting, 99% of our members responded “yes” when they were asked whether they approved of our union doing everything we could to help our members address the affordability crisis, including strike votes and strike action.
That question comes straight out of a directive from our newly-elected Executive Board, and the response was a ringing endorsement of this direction. It’s the energy we are carrying into a truly unique time in the history of our province, and it’s the focus of a week of solidarity building and a Strategy Summit for our Superstore members here in Red Deer.
The Executive Board’s Directive
Mohamed Kanu is a newly-elected member of our Executive Board.
The policy of Local 401 is directed by our Executive Board. This important governance board is made up of workers, just like you, who have been elected by fellow members. They set the Union’s priorities and tell us how best to meet our members’ needs.
This week in Red Deer started with meetings and training with our newly elected Executive Board. They have unanimously, without qualification, endorsed an aggressive “Strike Ready — Strike Vote — Strike If Necessary” policy for our Local.
Here’s how that breaks down:
Strike Ready.
We are preparing our members at workplaces across the province with knowledge about what a strike is, how to prepare for it, what to expect, how to conduct themselves, and how a strike ends.
Strike Vote.
We are in an environment where workers are standing up and demanding more as they have not done in decades. Simply put, they have to. Standing strong is a necessity for dealing with employers who have been conditioned to think unions were a thing of the past in Canada.
Almost without exception, a strong strike vote is necessary to secure a deal that even approaches what workers need to address the affordability crisis.
Strike If Necessary.
Taking a strike vote does not necessarily mean going on strike. We have taken some historically strong strike votes at 401 in recent years, but they have not yet led us to the streets. Those strike votes were instrumental in getting better deals for our members.
However, strike votes certainly can result in a strike. It is important that the threat of withdrawing workers’ labour has real teeth. And we are committed to being ready to go on strike if and when it becomes necessary.
Why This Policy? And Why Now?
Our members are facing a continued affordability crisis.
The reasons for this policy are simple. The affordability crisis has hardened and is not going away; in many ways, it’s felt most keenly in Alberta. Polls show that Canadians view grocery shopping as the most painful aspect of the Affordability Crisis.
As the Food Workers Union, we have a moral duty to be front and center in speaking to workers, shoppers, other unions and the public at large about this critical topic. And we have a moral duty to use every tool at our disposal to secure a living wage for our members.
Overwhelming Support from Our Members
President Hesse and UFCW Canada’s Economist Chris Abbott at our virtual General Membership Meeting.
During our recent virtual General Membership Meeting, we covered a wide range of material on the affordability crisis and generally talked about the current moment for the labour movement. President Hesse held a moment of silence for the slain in Minneapolis, and we fielded numerous member questions: many of which were about striking.
We also polled our members on several questions related to the affordability crisis:
We asked if they were still having trouble making ends meet due to the cost of living (87% said yes), and if the strain of the affordability crisis was still affecting their mental health (78% said yes).
We asked them whether their union should study market trends and conduct economic analysis to identify the most effective strategies, and 96% said yes.
The most resounding response to our member polls that evening was to the question: “Do you support your union pushing and fighting to make life more affordable, even if it means taking strike votes and going on strike?” Ninety-nine percent of our participants answered yes.
Our Superstore Strategy Summit
President Thomas Hesse asked members at our Superstore Strategy Summit in Red Deer to stand up if they supported getting strike ready and possibly going on strike. The whole room stood.
Our Superstore Strategy Summit is now complete. We talked about many of these questions, including market trends, the legal and bargaining landscape, bargaining priorities, and membership outreach.
Those conversations included President Hesse talking with AFL President Gil McGowan about the moment we face and how crucial union solidarity will be in the coming year. We are, after all, part of a Common Front initiative, and our struggles will be an important test of the Common Front’s pledge to treat an attack on one as an attack on all.
Our efforts to show solidarity with other unions have been based on living out the truth of that pledge. We have urged and will continue to urge the AFL and our fellow unions to show up for our members when needed most, and Gil McGowan has heard us loud and clear and made a definite commitment to answer the call.
All of this is in service of the mandate: “Strike Ready — Strike Vote — Strike If Necessary.” And we thank all of our members for standing strong with us in that resolve.
Posted on: February 06,2026