{"id":18983,"date":"2020-07-15T09:25:36","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T13:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benefitscanada.com\/news\/alberta-safeway-workers-vote-in-favour-of-strike-action-over-benefits-pandemic-pay-148043"},"modified":"2020-07-15T09:25:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T13:25:36","slug":"alberta-safeway-workers-vote-in-favour-of-strike-action-over-benefits-pandemic-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2020\/07\/15\/alberta-safeway-workers-vote-in-favour-of-strike-action-over-benefits-pandemic-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta Safeway workers vote in favour of strike action over benefits, pandemic pay"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Martha Porado<\/span> | July 15, 2020 <\/p>\n

Debates are roiling across Canada as many grocery retailers pull back on so-called hero pay for workers who\u2019ve had to face risky conditions during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Empire Co. Ltd., the parent company of Sobeys, Freshco and some Safeway stores, ended its premium-pay period in June. But that wasn\u2019t the only issue unionized workers at the company\u2019s Alberta Safeway locations considered when they voted to strike in late June. A majority (79 per cent) of members voted in favour of strike action because of benefits concessions the company asked the union to make in its latest collective agreement offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a curious time and the spotlight is at least in part on benefits in a global pandemic,\u201d says Thomas Hesse, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, which represents the employees. \u201cThese workers work in public places and there\u2019s a whole bunch of variables that are driving an augmented interest in benefits.<\/p>\n

Read: Uber Black drivers fight for unionization at labour board hearing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been 10 Safeway stores in Alberta that have had COVID diagnoses and investigations. They\u2019re unionized so they have a full-time benefits plan. But the majority of employees are subject to a part-time benefits plan, a jointly trusteed benefit plan that the employer makes contributions to and then there are union and company trustees and we have administrators who administer the plan. And the company is seeking to reduce contributions to those benefits plans. Of course, this is a major bone of contention.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the current crisis, he notes, employees are terrified of becoming ill and many have partners with no other benefits coverage, as so many across the province are suddenly out of work. \u201cThe company is pursuing reductions in benefits-level contributions, which will put the viability of these plans at risk. It\u2019s a terrible time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Foodora workers vote to join Canadian Union of Postal Workers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

With a clear mandate from members, Hesse says the union is eager to get back to the bargaining table.<\/p>\n

Empire Co. Ltd. didn\u2019t respond to Benefits Canada<\/em>\u2018s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Another union, Unifor, kicked off a strike vote on Monday for workers at Loblaws Companies Ltd.\u2019s Dominion stores in Newfoundland and Labrador. In a press release, Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, sharply criticized leadership at Canada\u2019s major grocery retailers for ending special pandemic pay programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that complicated,\u201d he said. \u201cWorkers are supporting these grocery chains through a pandemic that still isn\u2019t over.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martha Porado | July 15, 2020 Debates are roiling across Canada as many grocery retailers pull back on so-called hero pay for workers who\u2019ve had to face risky conditions during the pandemic. Empire Co. Ltd., the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}