Unifor national president Lana Payne responds to a question during a news conference on Parliament Hill, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Ottawa. Unifor says it is heading into a two-year stretch of bargaining covering more than a dozen collective agreements for grocery workers, who have more resolve than ever to achieve higher wages and better working conditions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
TORONTO – Unifor says it is heading into a two-year stretch of bargaining covering more than a dozen collective agreements for grocery workers, who have more resolve than ever to achieve higher wages and better working conditions.
The work will begin with negotiations next week for a contract covering 3,700 Metro workers across the Greater Toronto Area, who have already voted 100 per cent in favour of a strike if a deal can’t be reached.
Unifor national president Lana Payne says the strike vote sends a strong signal not just to Metro, but to all three grocery giants, that their workers are fed up.
Payne says workers have seen the quality of their jobs erode over time, with inflation eating into their wages even as the grocers post healthy profits.
She says the pandemic underscored just how essential grocery store workers are, noting that many of them received so-called ‘hero pay’ early on only to have it taken away.
Payne thinks the pandemic has also made Canadians more aware of grocery workers and what they face, and that this will translate into public support and sympathy as the workers bargain with grocers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2023.
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