Labour Dispute At Grocery Store

Thursday, August 17, 2006 01:03 PM

A labour dispute at Extra Foods in the Pine Centre Mall in Prince George has prompted the store to announce it will be locking out its employees at the close of business tomorrow.

"Over the last few months we have been meeting to come to some agreement with the union, but given the results of the recent vote we served a lockout notice," says owner-operator Al Comeau.

According to Tom Cameron-Fawkes, Director of Communications for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Extra Foods applied to the Labour Relations Board for the "final offer vote", and it resulted in only two union members at the store supporting the offer.

"We sent a request to the owner-operator and Westfair Foods, asking for a return to the bargaining table, but the letter was returned with a hand-scrawled note saying what’s there to talk about, which does not bode well for bargaining," says Cameron-Fawkes."We would hope the employer would come to their senses and return to the bargaining table."

"We hope we can deal with this matter in some way and get back to business. We have a lot of customers who are wondering what is going on. We are definitely interested in settling this," says Comeau.

The store is currently offering perishable goods at reduced prices in order to clear the items before the store is locked up at 9 p.m. on Friday August 18th.

Approximately 42 workers are impacted by the lockout. They are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

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Posted on Thursday, August 17, 2006 01:03 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Gofaster on August 17 2006 2:24 PM

Good. I don't shop there anyways.....so I guess I will be inconvenienced a lot....

Posted by: Runner46 on August 17 2006 6:39 PM

Are they locking out the workers or are they shutting down the operation?

Posted by: weezerfan on August 17 2006 7:07 PM

The union will definately lose this one. I worked at that store and the union was almost militant. They constantly bargained against the new hires to sustain their own high wages and because the nature of the grocery store business has changed in the last 10 years there is no need to pay someone $20 an hour to do a job that a young person like myself did willingly for 8 or $9 an hour.

Posted by: camoose on August 17 2006 8:22 PM

Just remember when the Citizen puts a spin on this story that it is a lockout, not a strike. There is a difference.

Posted by: Palopu on August 17 2006 8:42 PM

Weezerfan. You could reverse your statement and say that they shouldnt be paying someone 8 or $9 dollars an hour and limiting them to 20 hours per week, when the Union over the years got the rate to $20.00 per hour, which I might add most of the employees earn.

If you think your philosophy is so great, go to the Pulp Mills, Sawmills, University, Schools, Government Jobs, etc; and tell these people that they shouldnt be getting paid $20 to $28.00 dollars per hour, and that you would do their jobs for 8 or $9 dollars per hour. You would have a hard sell.

This is a lockout pure and simple, and the intent is to get a settlement from the Union that can be applied to other stores.

Just for you information Extra Foods, Canadian Superstores, etc;, are owned by Westfair Foods who in turn is owned by the Westons, which is a huge British Conglomerate, with stores throughout, Britain, Europe, and Australia. This is one of the biggest food distribution Companies in the world, so dont think this is a local battle.

Posted by: Runner46 on August 17 2006 9:30 PM

It is a local battle, but with international direction.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 17 2006 10:55 PM

Paplo - you are right. The union workers at Extra Foods will be unemployed. It's the only logical step left to take.
Westons isn't' likely to give a hoot about the union bowel movement, anymore than the union gives a hoot about Westfair problems.

Good-bye to Extra Foods.

The same thing happened in 1990 at Campbell River's Iron Wood mall. The union got cocky and everyone was hootin' and hollerin', and in three weeks they were all looking for another job. The mall went broke and lots of other people lost money and jobs and were hurt. Unions have too much power. Does more harm than good these days. The union powers need to be modernized as the union simply hurts too many people, and has the right to do so without recourse.

Posted by: acrider54 on August 18 2006 6:18 AM

Your right Yammy, why should employees reap the benefits from big buisness, who help earn them the millions of dollars in profits.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 18 2006 7:22 AM

Actually the employees were a cost input, not a profit.

It was the cans and boxes of product that brought in the money. If the employees want more of the profit, and there is no market margin to raise the prices, good bye employees and their jobs.

People get confused about what Weston is taking risks to accomplish. Weston can shug their shoulders and walk away - just like anyone else. There is always something else to invest in.

Posted by: trusted on August 18 2006 7:59 AM

It is so true Yama!
Unions become too strong-and militant.
The members do not seem to realize if the store is not making enough to warrant a healthy raise for them, or any raise for that matter, then they cannot lose money in order to keep them happy.
Safeway had a major problem with the wage issue, and still has many employees earning $26.00 plus an hour. Unfortunately, it is not in Prince George. There is NO Safeway-and the employees were obliged to look elsewhere for employment.
The same can happen with Extra Foods.
It is actually too bad, as if that store went-then no grocery shopping at that mall.
A one stop shopping destination is no more.
The real harm is to those employees who have borrowed monies based on their income, which most banks base a loan on. It could become an impossibility for a person to meet their committments if a drastic cut in pay were to occur. This could lead to bankruptcies.
Sad indeed for people who felt they had some type of job security when they went into debt.
Extra Foods will have no problem closing its doors rather than go broke to keep their employees solvent. It can happen with any company.
There is no such thing as "job security."
But there sure are lots of credit cards offered.
It seems like it is just too damn easy to accumulate debt, and many do so without paying attention to the fact those cards all have a "payback" date.
Once again-there is no such thing as JOB SECURITY. Companies come and go-as do their employees.

Posted by: Simple Simon on August 18 2006 8:05 PM

If my union contract states I have "job security, then why do I have to pay into Unemployment Insurance?

Posted by: Palopu on August 18 2006 9:22 PM

The Extra Food Employees took reductions in hours, and gave other concessions in the last contract. In this one the Company is asking for a further reduction in hours for full time employees, loss of health beniefts, and other concessions. I suspect that the Union would have signed for the status quo, however this is not what the Owners want. These employees do not get paid anymore, or get any better benefits than those working for the Pulp Mills, Teachers, Government workers, City Employees, WCB, ICBC, Hydro, Railway etc; If you think they should take reductions then be prepared to take one yourself, otherwise cool it.

The most underworked and overpaid people in this Province are those that I listed above, they get all the benefits, Good Holidays, High Pay. reduced hours of work. Some work 37.5 hours per week.

The big joke is that most of them, and certainlty the Government Workers are paid by those people who work at Extra Foods, and other such places, who pay taxes for these underworked and over indulged Government workers.

There is a serious problem of overpaid and underworked people in this Province, however it is not at Extra Foods, or other stores that are trying to pay employees 8 to 10 dollars per hour and restrict them to 20 hours per week so that they dont have to pay benefits.

The bottom feeders are at the top of the heap in this Province.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 19 2006 7:50 AM

Yah, I agree. The government workers are bottom feeders. Can't fire them, the teacher can hold our kids for ranson and they can look at any of our personal affairs with a click of a button.

I better be quiet.

Posted by: trusted on August 19 2006 8:17 AM

The really tough part of lowering that wage scale hits the worker who has committed to payments which his present wage scale gave him the monies to accommodate.
A mortgage company doesn't lower your home payment because you get paid less. You still have insurance, vehicle expenses, basic needs and food. You just do not have enough money to go around.
That was not the problem with the government workers. They demanded more and more money, and they can now live much better.
The taxpayers allowed this to take place. They even sat back and watched millions being paid out as a signing benefit.
The employees in grocery stores have no one going to bat for them-and it would be of little value to do so.
If-and I say if- Extra Foods closes-I do believe an U S based company will open on that location within a short time. A couple companys wanted Safeway but could not open without employing union workers, so declined.
Could history be repeating itself, only the circumstances have changed?
Hello, Oscar Meyers-or whomever is looming on the horizon.
Hello $9.00 an hour employees!
Hope I am wrong?

Posted by: Chester on August 19 2006 8:42 PM

A business is in business to provide a product or a service that someone else is willing to pay for.

Having said that, they are also expected to make a profit for their owners and shareholders. Investors are willing to incur risk but not without a return on investment that is much higher than leaving it in the bank.

If you were a business owner or a shareholder and your business was not making money, what would you do when your employees want more and there isn't more? In fact, the employees are asked to settle for less than they had, but are unwilling. What would you do? Chester

Posted by: trusted on August 19 2006 9:54 PM

Right on the money, Chester.
If Extra Foods is not making enough money to pay their employees additional wages-they have no choice but to close, as bankruptcy is around the corner anyhow. Quit while ahead would be the motto.
Ask the employees just where they think the company will obtain the funds from to give to them.
Sounds vicious-but it is for real. The employee knows they are capable of paying out only so much of their wage for living, and the employer only has so much to pay out to them from the business.
The government is aware they can increase wages by getting the money out of the public. Extra Foods does not have that advantage-they cannot get the money out of increased pricing of the groceries. Would not be long and they would have no shoppers.
Competition is good, if it is good competition. If Extra Foods cannot stay competitive-then they will be forced to close their doors, or the employees will make concessions so they can stay in business and they have jobs.
Now we know we can forget job security-and you are right, Simple Simon-keep paying into Unemployment Insurance.
Something is better than nothing-right?

Posted by: labourtalk2 on August 20 2006 9:40 AM

I wonder what the average age of the employees who voted are and if they really understand what they voted for or against. Unions are notorious for tip toeing around the truth.

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