Over the last few weeks we’ve received complaints from employees that UFCW 401 was aggressively approaching them about the provincial election. Now we are seeing the union’s focus shift to a campaign against the Company. This is distracting in our stores and will ultimately hurt our brand with customers. It is unfortunate that UFCW 401 has chosen to try and insert a wedge between employees, Safeway and our customers.

Safeway management and employees have been working hard to strengthen our stores. We are seeing early signs of progress, but there is still much more to do. Over the last few months we’ve been celebrating great teamwork. Watching our stores stand side-by-side to support Green Shirt Day, support local suppliers like Souptacular, celebrate 25 years supporting the Friends Helping Friends food drive, get creative with Easter and Maple Month celebrations and even celebrate International Women’s Day has been incredible.

From the beginning, we have been clear about our areas of focus: We are focused on the future of Safeway as well as meeting customer preferences by introducing FreshCo to the Alberta market. Strengthening our Safeway stores and introducing FreshCo to Alberta will make our company stronger and more competitive. This will help us continue to provide stable jobs for our valued employees.

We need to stay focused and work together as a team.

We will be back at the bargaining table in May and hope that UFCW 401 will be ready to focus on the future. We have made it clear to the Union that, as is customary in bargaining, the Company’s wage rate proposals will come during a future phase of bargaining. Negotiations so far have been focused on operational and collective agreement language issues.

The Company’s bargaining committee is at the table to negotiate an agreement that will create a level playing field with our competition and secure a strong future for our employees and our business. We will continue to update you as we progress through bargaining.