Safeway, why ya gotta be so mean?
Safeway employees vote NO! Safeway employees reject Sobeys’ bullying tactics! Safeway employees are ready to fight!
It’s been a difficult environment.
There’s nothing wrong with healthy debate during these troubled times. But while Safeway employees are suffering with their mental health and the pain of an unprecedented affordability crisis, Sobeys has attempted to bully them in ways we have never seen before.
Many are feeling paralyzed by the financial challenges. Click here to read an article about these dynamics.
About 35% of Safeway employees didn’t want to vote on the Company offer at all. Over 70% of Safeway workers say that Sobeys have acted like bullies.
Further, 30% of Safeway employees have said that Sobeys may have even used undue coercion to distort their feelings on the offer and turn them on their union and 95% have expressed a willingness to go on strike, if necessary.
“The Vice President of Sobeys recently asked me if I wanted to change the world,” says UFCW President Thomas Hesse. “My answer is a resounding yes. Workers spend as much as 80% of their waking hours at work. Your work is your world.”
“We have devoted our career to improving workplaces and building a better world. Safeway is a world that needs to be better for its employees,” adds President Hesse and Secretary Treasurer Richelle Stewart.
The Company’s priorities are clearly way out of whack. Sobeys is drunk on money and have forgotten their people. They are going down the wrong path and, frankly, putting their business in jeopardy.
The vote outcome
63% of Safeway employees have bluntly said no to the Company offer in a union secret ballot vote. That’s the overall figure.
64% of Safeway employees have rejected the Company offer involving the province-wide agreement.
58% of Safeway employees who fall under the Southern Meat and Deli agreement have rejected the offer.
67% of Safeway employees from the Northern Meat and Deli departments have rejected the offer.
President Hesse and Secretary Treasurer Stewart have advised the Company of the vote outcome.
Click here to see their letter.
You will note that we have adopted a conciliatory tone and have even started pausing our television ad campaign as a sign of good faith and an olive branch to the Company.
Of course, there is a percentage rejection that must be adjusted to reflect the Company’s undue intimidation and coercion. It is easy to estimate that at least 25% of voters supported the Company offer out of fear.
They didn’t like the offer and would not have normally voted for it.
*Adjusted data is a reasonable, quantifiable, and qualifiable estimate of what the voting outcome would have been absent undue influence and coercion from the Company.
The Company has exploited the vulnerabilities associated with the affordability crisis.
If it was not for Sobeys’ bullying and intimidation, it is easy to predict that 80% of Safeway employees would have rejected the offer.
Your union worked very hard to ensure that the vote on this offer was as accessible as possible. As a result, we are gratified to learn that 56% of all eligible members participated in this vote, which is a historic high turn out for our local union.
Thank you to all Safeway members who participated in this voting process.
The challenges
Some employees have said that they want to change their vote. They feel that the Company’s atmosphere of intimidation has unduly influenced them.
We have asked that those employees contact us. Please do so as soon as possible.
A desire to change your vote can be compelling evidence that you felt misled and bullied when you first cast your ballot. This evidence might be used in a legal proceeding later on.
Contacting us with this issue does not mean that your vote can change or that it can alter the outcome of the vote. But your statement will be a consideration taken into account by our lawyers.
If anyone has any concerns about this process, please contact your union immediately and we will hear and investigate your concerns.
No matter how you look at it, Safeway employees have said no to Sobeys bosses.
If the Company now tries to roll back the wages of top-rate and overscale employees, your union will file a grievance and explore other tactics. If the Company does this to you or tries to recoup money, you should say no and call us at:
The Company gave you increases over the last two years and consented to do so. We believe it is unlawful to now reverse what they agreed to. The Company needs to talk to its lawyers!
Also, it would be unlawful for Sobeys to ask you to pay money back. They might ASK you to do so, but do not consent to this course of action or sign anything.
The fightback
We are also going to the Alberta Court of Appeal in February with a stay application. We will be arguing that the billionaire Sobeys Family can afford to wait for all of this to be over and not tamper with your wages at present. We will argue that it irreparably harms you and causes them no harm at all to have to wait.
We are hoping that Sobeys will come to their senses and won’t do these things as they reflect on what has transpired. But we must be prepared to continue our fight.
The Company has put you through enough and we say to them that there is no weakness in reflecting, retreating, and looking for a measure of kindness and generosity during these challenging times. This is not a time to beat up on your hardworking staff who are struggling with the affordability crisis and their mental health.
If the Company takes money away from you, it’s on them.
Your union is not your employer. We don’t sign your pay cheques. We argue for justice, and we provide representation.
The billionaire Sobeys Family does not have to do this and if they do, it is entirely their choice and their fault.
You are not the problem. Your union is not the problem.
It’s greed, hi… That’s the problem, it’s greed.
As Taylor Swift said, “Why ya gotta be so mean?” Safeway doesn’t have to be mean unless they choose to be.
Posted on: January 24,2025