Local Superstore employees remain on the picket line as parent company Loblaw continues to negotiate with the United Food and Commercial Workers union regarding longer work hours.
Local Superstore employees remain on the picket line as parent company Loblaw continues to negotiate with the United Food and Commercial Workers union regarding longer work hours.
The two sides reached a tentative deal early Monday morning after workers walked off the job on Sunday.
In a previous interview with the Gazette, union spokesperson Christine McMeckan said more than 75 per cent of Superstore employees are part-time workers who are struggling to plan their monthly budgets. The company has cut hours in recent years, she said, despite relying heavily on its part-time workers.
As a result, employees are cut off their benefit plans and worry about job security, she said. The union has also warned Loblaw that staffing issues can create problems with customer service and affect food safety, as workers don't have the time to stock shelves and rotate products.
"When you ask people to do too much work in too little time mistakes are going to happen and things are going to get missed," she said. "We want the employees to be able to have a job they can stay at and have some security."
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 union had first put out a strike notice on Sept. 19, following a 97 per cent strike mandate by Superstore and Liquorstore employees in Edmonton and Calgary a week earlier.
The union represents about 8,500 Superstore employees across the province. The strike date was set as an attempt to get the company to the table after union workers rejected an offer from Loblaw that proposed separate, lower wage scales for new employees.
A letter by the union's bargaining committee posted on its Facebook page this morning said the new agreement will "present employees with a number of significant improvements over and above the company's last offer." The committee asked Superstore employees to maintain picket lines until union members had a chance to vote on the deal.
"As details of the tentative agreement are finalized and a plan for a smooth return to the stores is considered, it is important that Loblaw continue to understand that we are committed to bargaining strong together until a new deal is finalized."
