Striking Dominion Workers Face Intransigence of Loblaw Monopoly
- Louis Lang -
Striking Dominion workers' picket line in St. John's, Newfoundland, October 15, 2020.
Eleven Dominion stores across Newfoundland have been closed as 1,400
Dominion workers, members of Unifor Local 597, have been on strike
since August 22. The workers voted to strike in June, calling for
more full-time jobs after 60 were cut in 2019, leaving its workforce at
more than 80 per cent part-time employees. Parent
company Loblaw Companies Limited also ended its $2-an-hour pandemic
wage increase. Workers have been without a new contract since October
2019.
In interviews with the Canadian Press over the holiday weekend,
Dominion workers said they're fighting not only for themselves, but for
retail workers across the country. The vote to strike came after
Loblaws, Sobeys and other major grocery store chains eliminated a
$2-an-hour pay increase offered during the height of the first wave of
the pandemic. The Newfoundland workers have rejected a contract offer
from
Loblaw Companies Ltd., Dominion's parent company, that included a pay
raise of $1 an hour over the next three years.
At the end of August the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador
granted an injunction against striking grocery store workers. The
injunction states workers cannot interfere with Loblaw's right to
remove inventory that is or may become stale-dated, or with
contractors who are entering the property to replenish fuel for
refrigeration
of inventory in tractor trailers, or who are delivering or removing
cash.
Immediately after the injunction was granted the company declared in
a letter to the union that because "competition is fierce, business at
Dominions across Newfoundland is in decline," the company would not
change its offer and has refused to participate in any further negotiations.
A October 8 union press release quotes Unifor Local 597 President Carolyn Wrice: "Over the past six weeks Loblaws has continued
to sell its products at No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart. While the
company continues to rake in increased profits during the pandemic,[1]
it also continues to refuse to pay its frontline workers a living
wage. [...] The workers have received tremendous support
from the public during this strike and today we are asking them to join
us in sending a message to Loblaw and its Chairman Galen Weston." 
Dominion workers hold Thanksgiving food
drive on picket lines across the province.
In addition to maintaining picket lines, striking Dominion workers
are helping to provide meals to food insecure people across
Newfoundland and Labrador with a Thanksgiving food drive at picket
lines across the province. Members of the public donated non-perishable
food items at picket lines at the 11 Newfoundland Dominion stores.
Faced with the refusal of the company to negotiate, workers are
determined not to accept the company's claim that "reduced
profitability due to the pandemic," justifies turning 80 per cent of
the workforce into part-time staff and refusing to pay the workers a
living wage. Dominion workers in
Newfoundland have declared
that the strike will continue and this issue will be raised nationally,
calling on the workers at Loblaws brands across the country to stand in
support of the right of workers to negotiate acceptable wages and
working conditions. 
Picket at a No Frills store in St. John's.
Note 1. From March to September,
during the first wave of COVID-19, the Weston family's net worth
increased a whopping $1.6 billion dollars, reports a Unifor Media
Release, September 29, 2020.
This article was published in
Number 71 - October 20, 2020
Article Link:
Striking Dominion Workers Face Intransigence of Loblaw Monopoly - Louis Lang
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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