Vancouver Safeway Closures sideswipes labour negotiations with UFCW, sending union to the BC Labour Board

Labour negotiations between Canada Safeway/Sobey's and the UFCW 1518
are off to a rough start following the announcement of the planned
closure or conversion of some stores in the Vancouver area

Empire Company Limited, the Nova Scotia based grocery retailer which owns Sobeys and the Canada Safeway Brand in British Columbia, rattled the retail world in late January, with the announcement of the closure of ten Canada Safeway locations in the Lower Mainland.

Ten Safeway stores to be closed in B.C. as talks begin
10 Safeway stores to close in B.C.'s Lower Mainland
10 Safeway stores to close in Metro Vancouver
Closure of 10 Safeway stores in BC. reflects intense competition in Metro Vancouver grocery trade
'An insult and an outrage': 10 Safeway stores to close in Lower Mainland

The decision to close the ten stores also included a suggestion that some of the locations could return to service but under the company's Discount Banner FreshCo., a model that the company has put in place in Ontario and other locations and seemingly would like to introduce to other communities in British Columbia.

We outlined some of the background to the FreschCo concept  back in December .

That store closures announcement of January 23rd was met with anger by the union membership and set in motion the filing of a complaint to the BC Labour Relations Board by UFCW 1518, the union which represents workers at the stores affected and others across British Columbia.

The complaint is calling on the Board to declare that Sobey's is in violation of the Code, with the UFCW seeking an order that all ten stores remain open and its members made whole.

At the start of February, UFCW 1518 President Ivan Limpright questioned the timing of the store closure announcement and the threats that he believes it delivers towards employees of the grocery chain and membership of the union.

" Look, we’re about to begin negotiations with the company. And Sobeys picks this moment to announce 10 store closures? The company’s message is clear: it will re-open at least five of those stores only if the union and our members accept a substandard agreement,”

Prior to the announcement of the Store Closure announcements from the Atlantic Canadian company,  Safeway/Sobey's telegraphed a hint that troubles may be on the way, coming a few days previous on January 19th, when the grocery chain cancelled the first round of negotiations with the UFCW.

That move  left the union executive frustrated and providing observations as to the dramatic decline for the Safeway brand in the province, something that they suggest indicates that the parent company doesn't seem to understand the grocery business in Western Canada.

In a letter to Sobey's head office, the UFCW had outlined their hopes of some kind of negotiation timeline to be in place by February 1st.

So far, there has been no indication as to whether more talks are scheduled between the two sides.

While the UFCW has been quite active in getting its message out to the membership and the public, the grocery chain hasn't been quite as engaged in the flow of information, with few notes on the dispute listed in the media releases section of their website and little in the way of comment to the media.

You can follow the pace of news releases from the links below:

Empire/Sobeys

UFCW 1518

Watching the developments from the south with interest is UFCW Local 247 which represents Safeway workers in Prince Rupert, according to notes from the  union website, back in 2013, Local 247  negotiated a ten year agreement with Safeway which does not expire until 2023.

However, in a Facebook post to the membership of the local, President Suzanne Hodge took note of the Safeway closures in the south and how it will affect future negotiations.

"With the UFCW 247-Safeway contract coming up for re-negotiation shortly, this announcement by Sobeys reeks of scare tactics,  ... This is the type of fear-mongering announcement employers have been using forever to try and frighten employees about their job security, and lower their expectations for improvements at the bargaining table"

For more items about the Commercial Sector in the Northwest see our archive page here.


Cross posted from the North Coast Review.