Source: UFCW Local 1401
After Safeway requested meetings and an early round of bargaining, the company arrived, not with a fair and respectful offer, but with a proposal that shocked and disgusted workers. This offer undermines the hard work and dedication of employees across Alberta. It’s not just disappointing, it’s a blatant betrayal of everything Safeway workers have sacrificed.
In this insulting offer, thousands of Safeway workers would see no wage increase whatsoever. Instead, the company is offering a measly $250 bonus per year in each of 4 years, which is before taxes and deductions. That’s right, just $250 for each year of your hard-earned effort.
But it gets worse. The Company wants to introduce a new, mysterious work arrangement in every Alberta Safeway store under the guise of a “Next Generation Store Structure.” What does this mean for you? It means the Company is proposing to have the right to strip away your fundamental rights, the very rights that protect you at work. This mysterious plan that they have does not exist in any Safeway store in Canada.
You cannot trust Safeway!
Under this proposal, you could:
- Be laid off without notice
- Have your seniority completely erased
- Face cuts to your wages or benefits
- Have your job description drastically changed
- Lose union protections that have been fought for and earned over the years
The Company even wants the power to appoint an arbitrator to carry out these changes, leaving you powerless to protect your rights.
Your Union Bargaining Committee has said NO to this disrespectful offer. Senior employees are better off gambling with their wage increase won through the wage reopener than risking their jobs and livelihoods for a four-year contract that could leave you vulnerable to drastic changes. The Company’s stated goal of reorganizing the workplace could turn you into their disposable plaything, with no job security or control over your future. Disturbingly, not only does the Company’s proposal fail to meet your economic needs, it puts your job at risk. They just closed a Safeway Sherwood Park store and threats to close other stores or to convert them to FreshCo stores are ongoing.
This offer is an all-out assault on your security, your job, and your future at Safeway. If this proposal is accepted, your rights will be taken away, regardless of your years of service or your position.
Safeway also wants you to accept this proposal. But if you do so the company insists that a condition of the deal is that the Union withdraw all of its legal actions against Safeway!
We cannot accept this! This offer is not just disrespectful; it’s a direct attack on everything that workers have fought for over decades.
SAY NO TO SAFEWAY!
In Solidarity,
Your Union
UFCW Local 401
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