Category: Provinces

From February 11-25, 2021, Safeway stores across the Alberta Division raised critical funds for school meal programs in their local community as part of the Toonies for Tummies campaign. The annual campaign is an opportunity for the grocery industry to come together in support of school-aged kids facing food insecurity.

Together, our teammates and customers in the Alberta Division raised an incredible $226,000! You continue to show up for your communities when they need you most, and your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed.

The number of children facing food insecurity has doubled since the onset of COVID-19, and the need for help has never been greater. Through the generosity of our customers, kids at more than 1,000 schools will have access to healthy, nutritious breakfasts, which will give them the energy they need to thrive in the upcoming school year.

We are so proud of our Safeway frontline teammates who brought this campaign to life. A heartfelt thank you to the passionate Cashiers for rallying in support of hungry kids in their local communities!

For more than 90 years, Safeway has proudly served the distinct needs of Albertan families in cities across the province. We know that Safeway has strong roots right here at home, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue meaningfully investing in the province.

With that said, we are thrilled to announce a new Safeway location is coming to Edmonton, Alberta – Safeway Jasper! Construction of the new store kicked off March 1, and our teams are hard-at-work preparing for our targeted grand opening in September 2021. Safeway Jasper is a part of our urban market strategy and will encompass a stunning 25,000 square foot concept. You can find Safeway Jasper at Jasper Avenue & 122 Street NW.

Over the coming years, we’ll continue investing in Safeway in Alberta through the remodeling and grand re-opening of many more locations. Stay tuned to Safeway Talks for more updates as we approach these exciting milestones.

 

For almost a year now, our frontline teammates at Safeway have been true champions for your communities. Every day, you come to work with an inspiring passion to serve Alberta families – and our customers have told us loud and clear just how much they appreciate you.

Through this terrible pandemic, we worked through a long, drawn-out labour negotiation process in Alberta. We’re proud that we finally reached a fair and equitable deal for all this past summer. A deal that was overwhelming supported with a 90% ratification rate by our teammates. A deal that will ensure we continue investing meaningfully in Safeway and welcome FreshCo into the right markets for our customers. We’ve invested millions in the Safeway network and we will continue to progress to the promised $200 million dollar mark by 2025.

With all of this tremendous momentum, it is confusing to hear the recent criticisms from Tom Hesse and the Union Leadership who are campaigning against the deal that they negotiated last summer. This type of communication from the Union only leads to confusion and unnecessary anxiety amongst our hardworking teammates.

We can feel it, the spirit of Safeway is back in action. The Safeway brand is back to celebrating its legacy as Alberta’s hometown grocer, who truly supports local communities, suppliers, charitable causes and families. We are so happy to see the entire network thrive as one team.

We want to be very clear with our Safeway teammates. We are completely committed to supporting the Safeway network in Alberta so it can continue to thrive and reclaim its position as Alberta’s number one grocer. We are also completely committed to ensuring we have the right stores, in the right markets and in some cases, that will mean opening FreshCo stores. We have and will continue to treat all of our teammates fairly and respectfully through this process to secure a strong future for all of us.

There is no room for these useless politics in our stores. We need to stay focused on what is most important – our customers, teammates and our communities. This attempt at creating uncertainty and distraction is particularly disappointing.

It’s important to us that you have access to accurate information. If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with your HR Business Partner or Store Manager – they’re always there to help.

We are hopeful that UFCW 401 will join us, as they have in the past, to refocus on what counts: supporting our teammates and customers through this terrible pandemic, strengthening Safeway and bringing FreshCo to Alberta.

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, our Pharmacy teams have been proud to provide local families with pharmacy services that they can count on. Earlier this week, Alberta Health announced that community pharmacies will be the primary service providers for Alberta’s COVID-19 immunization efforts.  Twelve Safeway locations in Calgary and Edmonton were among the selected pharmacies by Alberta Health. The health of our community is important to us and we’re proud to continue our role of supporting the health and wellbeing of Albertans.

Vaccinations will be available for Albertans aged 75+ at the following Safeway locations:

Calgary:

• Safeway Pharmacy #8803 – Northgate
• Safeway Pharmacy #8816 – Market Mall
• Safeway Pharmacy #8842 – Glenmore Landing
• Safeway Pharmacy #8913 – North Hill
• Safeway Pharmacy #8916 – Montgomery

Edmonton:

• Safeway Pharmacy #8879 – Manning Crossing
• Safeway Pharmacy #8891 – Westmount
• Safeway Pharmacy #8892 – Northgate
• Safeway Pharmacy #8904 – Southgate
• Safeway Pharmacy #8906 – Jasper Gates
• Safeway Pharmacy #8928 – Abbotsfield
• Safeway Pharmacy #8906 – Windermere

We will continue to share additional information on vaccine roll-out plans with our pharmacy teams, store teammates and our patients in the coming days.

For the past year, our Safeway teammates in Alberta have been working hard to provide local families with an essential service that they can count on. We know this is no small feat, but we continue to rise to the challenge and serve our customers with determination and pride. As you know, despite these hurdles, we worked collaboratively with our teammates and UFCW 401 which resulted in a ratified agreement in 2020 – with 90% acceptance – that will help us solidify a strong future in the province.

Making sure that our teammates were positioned for success was important to us, and the agreement contained a number of significant benefits for teammates in converting stores, including:

• An enhanced severance offering (greater than in the previous agreement)
• The option to transfer to another Safeway store, should their location be planned for conversion
• The ability for the 25% most senior teammates in the store, who choose to go to a new FreshCo store, to retain their Safeway economic terms. Those who don’t fall within the 25% most senior will receive a buydown payment and a guaranteed job at FreshCo.

When bargaining with UFCW 401, it was so important to establish conditions that support the introduction of FreshCo stores on existing Safeway pads. We agreed on a process that allowed five months of bargaining and final offer selection arbitration. Not only did the Union ratify the final agreement, but they also received a voluntary recognition agreement for all FreshCo stores in Alberta that didn’t fall on Safeway pads.

We worked together to finalize the new FreshCo agreement as quickly as possible, spending two months bargaining and agreeing to an arbitration hearing for outstanding items. UFCW 401 agreed with the selection of Ms. Norrie as the arbitrator, knowing that she’s highly regarded for being fair and unbiased. The decision issued on February 1, 2021, that UFCW feels is unjust, was the outcome of this arbitration process.

Bargaining with UFCW 401 has been a long process, but from the very beginning, we’ve been open and honest that several Safeway stores are unprofitable. It’s clear that the only way to secure a strong future in Alberta is to introduce a discount option. FreshCo stores allow us to provide customers with the items they want, at the prices they’re looking for, at the same locations where our Safeway stores are currently struggling. Without converting these stores, we have no other option to secure our long-term presence in these markets. While COVID has created a temporary increase in sales, we can’t count on this lift lasting forever, and customers have told us that they prefer to shop at discount grocery stores in several markets.

As we look to the future, we’re confident that we have the hard-working teammates, and the necessary collective agreements, that will help us win together. Thank you for your unwavering dedication to Alberta families during these tough times. Every day, we’re so proud to be on your team.