This week, we sat down with UFCW 401 to begin bargaining.
We are committed to being open with our employees throughout bargaining and want to share an update on what has happened so far.
At this point, we have exchanged bargaining proposals with UFCW Local 401. We also spent a great deal of time talking about the challenges that we all face given the difficult Alberta economy, extremely competitive grocery industry and changing customer preferences.
Everyone agreed that we also need to prepare ourselves for the future.
Put simply, we are focused on the future of Safeway as well as meeting customer preferences by introducing FreshCo to the Alberta market.
Securing a strong future for Safeway includes making sure our collective agreements allow us to compete effectively in the market and operate stores that delight our customers. We’ve made some progress in our Safeway stores in Alberta but there is more work we need to do to attract customers to shop in our stores. We know that if we stay focused as a team we can get there. In bargaining, we are committed to creating conditions that will provide stable jobs and allow our Safeway stores to succeed.
We know Albertans are looking for discount shopping options and because we don’t have a discount format in Alberta, we know they are forced to shop with the competition. By opening discount stores in Alberta we will become more competitive overall.
A competitive Safeway collective agreement and the right foundation for the introduction of a discount format are our two key objectives that go hand-in-hand to secure a strong future for our company.
We wanted to share this with you because our goals are not a secret. We have no hidden agenda. We are simply doing what we need to do to make sure all of us – our employees, our stores and our company – are successful.
Please reach out to your Store Manager along the way if you have any questions. If they don’t have a direct answer for you, we will work hard to get your questions answered.
We’ll keep you updated here on SafewayTalks.ca
