You have to listen to this…
Alberta School of Business professor outlines Sobeys’ reprehensible rollback of wages and efforts to undermine union membership. Another objective opinion about the situation at Safeway from an unbiased, outside expert
We’ve been pointing out Sobeys’ anti-union animus (motives) and their efforts to undermine your union at Safeway for some time.
“The idea of wage rollbacks is so inappropriate.”
Now, Associate Executive Professor at the Alberta School of Business, Rick Brick, points to the exact same thing in a recent CBC interview about labour disputes in Alberta.
Click here to listen to the CBC interview.
“I think most people who are looking at the situation are very troubled by what Safeway is doing to their workers. The idea of even presenting wage rollbacks is so inappropriate that people who normally side with management are having trouble doing that right now in the Safeway dispute.”
This is the second professor to describe what Sobeys is doing as troubling and inappropriate, following comments made in a CBC article published last week on the same topic.
“The word reprehensible rises to mind.”
In response to the interviewer’s question about how we have gotten to the point that Sobeys is demanding Safeway workers pay increases the Company previously agreed to back, Brick continues:
“The word reprehensible rises to mind. I don’t know if I would go quite that far, but it is certainly very close to that. I think what is going on is that Safeway and Sobeys, their parent company, are doing their best to ensure that no further unions are created in their facilities. They’re basically playing as hardball as they possibly can, and unfortunately, I don’t know that it’s not going to backfire on them.”
Click here to listen to the CBC interview.
“It is not something we see in Canada being done.”
Talking further about the message Sobeys’ actions sends not just to Safeway workers but all workers, Brick concludes:
“It has a horrible chilling effect on the workers who may be looking at the feasibility of joining a union or staying in a union. And it is unprecedented the idea of asking for wage rollbacks… [But], it is not something we see in Canada being done.”
Brick’s interview is helpful insight if you’ve been wondering why this fight has become as big as it has.
Not only are we fighting indefensible wage rollbacks and clawbacks, your union is fighting against Sobeys’ efforts to union bust and undermine the power that comes from workers standing together to demand better in the first place.
The stakes could not be higher.
The fight for Safeay workers is the fight for all workers and certainly all members of UFCW Local 401.
Click here to listen to the CBC interview.
By ensuring Safeway members are treated fairly, we work to ensure that all of our members are treated fairly and we are able to bargain strong together for the victories you need during this equally unprecedented affordability crisis.
“Bargain together or beg alone. We must all stand together to fight for what is right,” say President Thomas Hesse and Secretary Treasurer Richelle Stewart in response to this eye-opening interview.
Posted on: February 07,2025