Superstore staff in Alberta vote in favour of strike action

[GordonBlue]

https://edmontonjournal.com/business...e-action-union

Ninety-seven per cent of voting members of the union voted to strike last week. About 10,000 union members work at Superstores in the province.

“They can’t work from home. Out of 40 Superstores in Alberta, over 30 have had (COVID-19) outbreaks,” Hesse said. “They’ve been at the front lines ensuring we can cook and eat at our kitchen tables with our families.”

“I’m seeing people terrified going to work in crowded public places,” Hesse said. “Their billionaire bosses gave them so-called hero pay and then took that away. It’s almost like the employer saw it as a calculation error in their enormous profits.”

Loblaw rolled out $2-per-hour pay raises to encourage workers in the early months of the pandemic. It phased it out in June 2020, “clawed back far sooner than the (COVID-19) risks dissipated,” said Payne.

“(There’s) one word to describe what the employees are looking for: lots. What will the tipping point be when workers will say, ‘this makes me feel OK to go into this environment?’ We’re bargaining this week to probe that question. What is an essential worker worth in this environment?”

[Azure]

How much government money did these chains get over the past 2 years?

[81MC]

Good for them.

I mean, I don’t exactly know what unskilled workers in a retail environment should be compensated. Regardless, give em hell.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Good for them.

I mean, I don’t exactly know what unskilled workers in a retail environment should be compensated. Regardless, give em hell.

a lot more than they have gotten, considering they went to work every freaking day through 4 waves of a pandemic, and had their danger pay raise taken away a year ago.

to me it's not the fact it's "unskilled labor", but the risk factor they've all had to take. when everyone else was hunkered down at home, they've kept things going.

grocery workers are some of the unsung heroes of the pandemic, that most people have taken for granted.

[81MC]

I don’t disagree. At all. I hope that’s not what this action hinges on though, because I don’t think that’ll garner much support from the (large) amount of people who actually also needed to go to work.

I went to work every day, and saw hundreds who continued to as well. Were drive through workers, cabbies, inspectors, station attendants, skip operators etc given danger pay?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Good for them.

I mean, I don’t exactly know what unskilled workers in a retail environment should be compensated. Regardless, give em hell.

I think that's the really difficult question. I definitely see that the corporation made billions, but that's kind of what you want when you're paid by a company. If they're not making money, your job is tenuous.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Slava

I think that's the really difficult question. I definitely see that the corporation made billions, but that's kind of what you want when you're paid by a company. If they're not making money, your job is tenuous.

Could be my millennial idealism but just maybe there’s a spot in between not being profitable and making billions on the backs of workers who risked their well-being and the well-being of their loved ones so the shareholders could get a bigger dividend.

Yay capitalism! Where your employer making billions while you’re below the poverty line is “what you want”.

[cKy]

I hate the idea of saying a grocery store or retail is an unskilled job.

Do you guys like standing in line? I don't. I want the person whos bagging my groceries or scanning in my newly purchased pants to be as efficient as possible.

That's a skill to handle all the personalities and still have a measurable job performance.

[The Yen Man]

I've never really liked the term "unskilled" worker. It gives it a demeaning undertone, like it's somehow not as important as "skilled" workers.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I've never really liked the term "unskilled" worker. It gives it a demeaning undertone, like it's somehow not as important as "skilled" workers.

We have to demean them in order to justify paying them less.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by belsarius

We have to demean them in order to justify paying them less.

Hey if you want to pay more for grocery, then go ahead and advocate for the abolishment of slave-like wages.

Plus nobody on CP shops at superstore. That place is for poor people and immigrants who like expired meat.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by 81MC

I don’t disagree. At all. I hope that’s not what this action hinges on though, because I don’t think that’ll garner much support from the (large) amount of people who actually also needed to go to work.

I went to work every day, and saw hundreds who continued to as well. Were drive through workers, cabbies, inspectors, station attendants, skip operators etc given danger pay?

I don't think you're being malicious, but you're demeaning their jobs, perhaps unintentionally.

first calling them unskilled then saying maybe they don't deserve more because other jobs didn't get more.

do you make $15 an hour? probably not. As most of CP seems to, your household likely makes a heck of a lot more.

saying this groups maybe shouldn't get more because other deserving jobs didn't get more isn't a good argument.

not saying you, but it's amazing how people with money tend to just ignore or demean the people who serve them.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...819204195.html

some highlights from the loblaws 4th quarter report for 2020.
Net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company were $310 million. This represented an increase of $56 million, or 22.0% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. Diluted net earnings per common share were $0.88. This represented an increase of $0.18, or 25.7% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Adjusted net earnings available to common shareholders of the Company(2) were $410 million. This represented an increase of $15 million, or 3.8% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Adjusted diluted net earnings per common share(2) were $1.16. This represented an increase of $0.07, or 6.4% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.

article from late last year
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/lob...-pay-1.5800766
Loblaw hikes dividend on higher grocery sales — but no plans to bring back pandemic pay hike, too

Sales, profit, dividend and costs all up, but wages won't be doing the same
Revenue totalled $15.67 billion, up from nearly $14.66 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

But some of those higher sales were offset by roughly $85 million in COVID-19-related expenses, and higher labour costs associated with booming e-commerce sales from home delivery.

That translated to an adjusted profit $464 million, or $1.30 per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of $458 million, or $1.25 per diluted share, a year ago.

All in all, the company was confident enough with its financial performance to boost its dividend by two cents a share, to 33.5 cents.




Loblaws is doing fine. why undercut employees so crucial to the infrastructure of the company? because they can? they can't drop their per share dividend by part of a cent?

of course staff in many industries deserve more than what they've gotten.
But in this case, this story is Superstore and thiedr willingness (97%!) to strike.
I'm glad the Susperstore employees are fighting, as they deserve more. simple as that.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Hey if you want to pay more for grocery, then go ahead and advocate for the abolishment of slave-like wages.

Plus nobody on CP shops at superstore. That place is for poor people and immigrants who like expired meat.

Superstore is my go-to. Some No-Name brand and PC brand items are sneaky good.

PSA: My guilty pleasure is pizza pops. Don't get off brand pizza pops, they suck haha.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by cKy

I hate the idea of saying a grocery store or retail is an unskilled job.

Do you guys like standing in line? I don't. I want the person whos bagging my groceries or scanning in my newly purchased pants to be as efficient as possible.

That's a skill to handle all the personalities and still have a measurable job performance.

At the grocery store I go to, there is one particular cashier I try to avoid if at all possible, because they take at least twice as long as any of the other cashiers to get you through.

It’s not an unskilled job. Some people are still terrible at it.

[Northendzone]

it would be interesting to see what the respective ask and offers currently are.

complicated issue, i can't figure out what a reasonable salary for these folks is and my son works there part time.

Should a person scanning groceries make $20/hr, $25? $35? more?

[Azure]

What I don't understand is that most of these big grocery corporations do make good money. Why on earth they don't just take care of their employees is beyond me.

You know, like Costco does.

There is enough evidence out there to suggest that if a company does that, they make even more profit.

[btimbit]

Good for them, they have my support. As an emergency worker I know what it's like to go to work every day since the start of the pandemic and deal face to face with a public that hates your guts for no reason and think's they're better than you.

They talk about a worker shortage in Canada. There's no worker shortage, there's just a shortage of good jobs. I hope workers from other chains follow suit

[Firebot]

The whole give 2$ / hr to make the good media news social round, only to claw it back a couple of months later while workers continued to deal with the pandemic was a total slap in the face to the workers. Taking abuse from customers all the while grocery stores were some of the most profitable business throughout this pandemic, I fully support them for striking.

[AltaGuy]

Seems like Superstore misjudged this one. The bad publicity will give the union a leg up in the negotiations for sure. Good for them, I hope they get the raises they want.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I've never really liked the term "unskilled" worker. It gives it a demeaning undertone, like it's somehow not as important as "skilled" workers.

All workers require skills. It’s similar in football with skill positions; all football positions require skill.