Month: March 2018

Employees vote in favour of agreement with UFCW 832

Posted on by Varinder Singh

UFCW 832 has informed us that members across Manitoba voted on March 25, 2018 in favour of the tentative collective agreement that had been reached between UFCW 832 and the company after weeks at the bargaining table.

We understand this was a difficult bargaining process. We appreciate your patience and support, along with your ongoing daily hard work.

Members from both the company and the union worked hard to achieve this important milestone, which will allow us to compete in today’s challenging, rapidly changing retail grocery industry. Now, we can work together to achieve industry leading store standards, exceed our customer’s expectations and strengthen their loyalty.

We will be working with UFCW 832 to implement the terms of the new agreement.

Keep checking in with us here at www.SafewayTalks.ca to stay informed.

Thank you

Scott Chollak

Vice President

SK, MB, ON

Setting the record straight: we’re working hard to get a deal with UFCW 1518

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We have met with UFCW 1518 for 10 days of negotiation over the last several weeks. We are committed to getting a deal that will help save jobs.  That’s a fact.

We’re correcting the record because UFCW 1518 has been spreading misinformation.

Last week was the first point in negotiations where the union explained their proposals, many of which were not specific to collective agreement terms and conditions. Unfortunately, many of the proposals put forward by the union would increase costs and limit our ability to get our stores back on track.

It is no secret that our stores have been struggling. It costs us more to run our stores then it does for the competitors to run theirs. We can’t continue to operate this way. The union is aware that we must achieve real reductions to our labour related costs.   They have not put forward any proposals that will help achieve that.

We’ve agreed to continue bargaining next week with the understanding that we will begin discussions on specific proposals. We hope UFCW 1518 President Ivan Limpright or Chief Spokesperson, Gary Caroline will join us at the bargaining table so we can come to an agreement together.

We’re at the table to listen and discuss, but now is the time for action. We need to move forward toward an agreement that works for everyone. If we can’t achieve this quickly, the next step of the process will be a move toward final offer selection as laid out in our collective agreement.

Customer Leafletting by the union will only hurt all of us!

Posted on by Varinder Singh

Yesterday, UFCW 401 was on site at some Safeway locations in Alberta handing out misleading, incorrect and distracting information to our valued customers. UFCW 401 asked customers to tell employees they “stand with them in their efforts to save Safeway”.

Safeway would like to tell employees and store managers that we stand with you to win our customers back. We’re investing in marketing, community development and merchandising efforts to help improve our stores and our brand. We’re committed to improving our business so we can all have a stronger tomorrow. And most importantly, we’re proud of our store employees who work so hard to serve our customers in our stores each day.

We are sorry that our employees and customers had to deal with this distraction from UFCW 401 at our stores. Our grocery stores are integral to the communities they serve. It’s unfortunate that this activity by UFCW 401 is distracting us from our goal.

Customer distractions like this will only turn our customers away at a time when our store teams are working so hard to win back our customers. We have been transparent with UFCW 401 about the challenges we’ve been facing as a company. It’s no secret that our Safeway stores have been struggling. We know that employees are working hard to turn things around and we truly appreciate everyone’s hard work and effort.

Let’s work together

Posted on by Varinder Singh

We’re back at the bargaining table today with UFCW 832. We’re working hard to get an agreement that will help us compete in the Manitoba market.

One of the biggest challenges we face is that it costs us more than our competitors to run our stores. We need competitive operating costs if we’re going to compete.

We also need to ensure we can start the conversation on the right deal to bring FreshCo. stores into Manitoba to allow us to compete in the quickly expanding discount market.

There is a lot of hard work ahead but we are hopeful that we can come to an agreement that will work for everyone.

We look forward to working with UFCW 832 to find the right solutions to secure a strong future for all of us.