| A local union has launched a high-profile boycott campaign against grocery chain IGA, asking customers to stay away until workers at its Forest Lawn store are given a raise.
But a spokesperson for the company says negotiations with the workers are commencing, and he hopes customers keep shopping at the store.
Douglas O’Halloran, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union local 401, says cashiers at the Forest Lawn IGA store have been without a contract for eight years, and haven’t seen their top wage increase since that time.
He says workers at the store have grown frustrated and are considering a strike vote, but the union called for a boycott in an attempt to encourage the company to return to the bargaining table. Since radio and newspaper ads appeared calling for the boycott, negotiations have resumed.
"The top rates were $11 an hour in 1994, and there has been no real money to anyone since then," O’Halloran says. "We just haven’t been able to get a deal so far… but they have returned to the table."
What’s unique about the situation is that the Forest Lawn store is the only IGA in Calgary where cashiers are represented by a union. O’Halloran says the company has given raises to non-union workers at other IGA stores, but workers at Forest Lawn have missed out. He adds that they’ve been reluctant to pressure the company because they feared the aging store would be shut down if a strike took place.
"You don’t have much power if you only have one store… but some of the workers just got fed up," O’Halloran says. "We’re asking for the pay (workers receive) at non-union stores, and that would still be… behind the industry average."
Andrew Walker, vice-president of communications and corporate affairs of Sobeys Inc., the grocery giant that owns IGA, refused to discuss details of the bargaining, but confirmed that negotiations have resumed.
"We don’t discuss our collective agreements in the public or in the media," Walker says. "(Boycotts) are a tactic we’ve seen, but we don’t think it’s particularly helpful.
"We certainly hopeful our customers will continue to shop at our stores." |
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