I would say both. If the Union holds it's ground then it will benefit workers in Strathroy and across the province. The company is bluffing yet again and I am glad for once that the union decided to fight.(although they should have fought the RCSS deal) I would rather end up in a RCSS with my current contract than the crap contract the RCSS workers have. Zerhs isn't just going to pack up and leave town nor are the going to open a No Frills there. That is why they created the RCSS deal in the first place. It was an easy way to get concessions without having to open a non union format store in which they would have had to spend millions of dollars in the courts trying to justify.
Zehrs Strathroy
What is happening to the Zehrs store in Strathroy. I think this is a very big issue. Last I heard Loblaws wants to turn it into an RCSS and not follow the contract which would make it a hybrid store ( old contract goes with present employees and only the department type merchandise side gets the RCSS agreement). Loblaws will pay the buy down to all employees however the ufcw is sticking to its guns and refuses to give in. I find this sudden defensive position refreshing however I don't work there and every employee in that store has voted to go RCSS rather than go and take their bumps throughout the district. I feel the employees in that store should be the ones making the decision on their future. Apparentley Loblaws has said that it will close the store in January and this will have a drastic impact on the lives of workers who are caught in the middle. Do you think the ufcw should hold to their position that they are representing all members province wide or should they do what is right for the members in Strathroy?
40 below, I find it odd to be on this site and agreeing with the ufcw and I also wish they had fought the whole deal from the start. I do however think that the company is not bluffing. Too much bad press has already happened and I don't think there is any love for Zehrs from a lot of Loblaw execs. I think Zehrs has shown Loblaws up in too many markets. I hope things work put for the employees best.
quote:
posted by cointoss:
What is happening to the Zehrs store in Strathroy. I think this is a very big issue. Last I heard Loblaws wants to turn it into an RCSS and not follow the contract which would make it a hybrid store ( old contract goes with present employees and only the department type merchandise side gets the RCSS agreement). Loblaws will pay the buy down to all employees however the ufcw is sticking to its guns and refuses to give in. I find this sudden defensive position refreshing however I don't work there and every employee in that store has voted to go RCSS rather than go and take their bumps throughout the district. I feel the employees in that store should be the ones making the decision on their future. Apparentley Loblaws has said that it will close the store in January and this will have a drastic impact on the lives of workers who are caught in the middle. Do you think the ufcw should hold to their position that they are representing all members province wide or should they do what is right for the members in Strathroy?
Try this link: Ufcw 1977...
Rob...
There have been some updates to the Strathroy situation. It seems that they are reaching a deal with the company. What that deal is I am not sure of. However I read on the 1977 website that they are having meetings about:
1. Vote to Authorize Local Union to commence early bargaining with Zehrs Markets
2. General Business
3. Strathroy Update
Early barganing? I am not sure when the Zerhs contract is up, but it seems that if they were to bargain early would that not be breaking labour law or does the fact that they are conducting a vote change that?
Local 1977 to Loblaws: Hey, you guys can't do that; we have a contract.
Loblaws to Local 1977: Well then, let's get rid of this pesky contract, and then you can give us one we like better.
Local 1977 to Loblaws: Okay! Like, you guys are way too far ahead of us. Why didn't we think of that?
This is how Loblaws and the UFCW plan to get around the "no concessions in 2006" commitment in the RCSS deal. You'll recall that this commitment was touted as a "breakthrough in bargaining" by the UFCW weasels little more than a year ago.
Surprise! The concessions will happen in 2005. All the members who said that by 2006 there will be nothing left to take away will be proven right.
Watch for Brian The Trougher Williamson to spin like a whacked out top about how the early bargaining will save jobs, protect existing members and help the hugely profitable Loblaws compete with Wal-Mart. I'm betting that there will even be some suggestion that the OLRB sanctioned, suggested or otherwise approves of the re-opening of the contract.
quote:
This is how Loblaws and the UFCW plan to get around the "no concessions in 2006" commitment in the RCSS deal.
This is what's so damnedable funny - I don't think there is an all out plan on the part of ufcw, I don't think they are capable of anything that involved - oh no doubt the employers are feeding their ignorance. Wouldn't you if you had as much as loblaws to gain and enough foolage to play around with?
These chunkheads don't realize we can see everything they do. They've been pulling shit like this for so long it's just second nature, but they still believe no-one can see them. Maybe that was true in the past but it isn't any longer - really, I'm embarrassed for their stupidity.
quote:
...Now Saturday came and the streets were just lined with thousands, and thousands, and thousands of people, and they all were cheering as the artillery came by, the infantry marched by, the cavalry galloped by. And everybody was cheering like mad, except one little boy. You see, he hadn't heard about the magic suit and didn't know what he was supposed to see. Well, as the King came by the little boy looked and, horrified, said,
"Look at the King! Look at the the King! Look at the King, the King, the King!
The King is in the all together
But all together the all together
He's all together as naked as the day that he was born.
The King is in the all together
But all together the all together
It's all together the very least the King has ever worn...."
The UFCW has no clothes. Here is one of the very few places that you'll ever read the truth. The UFCW has no clothes.
From the local paper:
Zehrs staff gets a six-month reprieve
Okay here is what I do not understand after going back and reading posts on the RCSS deal, i thought that, 1 the company could not do this, ie close down and reopen 2 it was a bluff,they never had plans to do this. I hope for the sake of those workers in Strathroy this works out for the best, cause this sort of thing is sad to see. But if it happens will there be a change of mind set or will there still be the same mind set here that the union was evil?
I don't think that anyone here has ever said that the UFCW is evil. Stupid, duplicituous, management-friendly, misguided, bereft of leadership and vision - yes to all of those. But evil - no. It takes a certain level of intelligence to be evil. The UFCW doesn't have the capacity to be evil.
If the company closes the store, that will be unfortunate indeed and another indication of the ruthlessness with which the Loblaws empire is run. Should that elevate the UFCW in anyone's estimation? No. It's just further evidence of their abject failure to protect the interests of their members.
The UFCW's willingness to roll over for Loblaws again and again over a period of more than a decade has emboldened the company to the point where it feels quite free to squeeze the workers to the last drop to get what it wants. It realizes that the UFCW is incapable (and most likely unwilling) to organize any kind of serious resistance and will - after making the usual noises about how disappointed/outraged/lawyered-up it is - roll over again.
The pattern is pretty consistent: The company demands concessions. The UFCW makes some indignant noises. High level representatives of the two organizations enter into secret negotiations - sometimes with the help of mediators, arbitrators or LRB guys. A concessionary deal is made. The deal is pitched to the members as necessary, something that couldn't be avoided, or maybe something that will save their jobs. At the next round of negotiations the same thing happens.
All that Loblaws has done now is accelerated the screwing. No longer content to wait for the expiry of its collective agreements, the hugely profitable corporation is demanding mid-term negotiations so that contracts can be gutted before they expire. The UFCW is going to play along again, just watch.
If the UFCW were serious about stopping threatened store closures like the one in Strathroy, they'd have been in court weeks ago seeking an injunction and they'd be pushing the OLRB to conduct a full hearing and issue a ruling as soon as possible. They're not doing any of that. Instead, they've gone under the cone of silence with the head of the OLRB who is going to mediate a deal. That doesn't sound like a union that's putting up a fight. It sounds to me more like a union that's looking for a convenient cover for a deal that a lot of members are not going to like.
The 6 month delay in the Strathroy closure is no victory or gift as suggested in the media article. It's a window of opportunity for Loblaws and the UFCW to agree to further concessions. During this period, the workers who have already been subjected to the stress of receiving layoff notices will be sitting on the sidelines hoping for the best, getting softened up for the bad news.
well if loblaws wants to do a favour for one of it's friends ( seems that quite a few of these no frills are owned by ex higher ups in the company) it better be prepared for the consequences if it screws the employees there. Some strange things can happen when orders are shipped to a store.
Let's get a grip here. Opening and closing stores is a fact of life in retail. For example, Loblaw Companies opened and closed the following from 2001 to 2004:
quote:
In 2001: a net 5% increase in retail square footage related to the opening of 61 new stores (which included major expansions of existing locations) and the closure of 62 stores.
In 2002: a increase of 6.9 % in net retail square footage related to the opening of 75 new corporate and franchised stores and the closure of 58 stores.
In 2003: an increase of 4.7% in net retail square footage related to the opening of 63 new corporate and franchised stores and the closure of 61 stores.
The UFCW has never stopped a closure in their entire existence.
What stinks here is that under the guise of stopping a closure, the UFCW is opening a contract that they just bargained substantial cuts to. They are opening early even though Loblaw supposedly promised to not seek further concessions even in the 2006 Collective Agreement.
Read what Mike had to say a few months back:
quote:
Canadian Grocer. Toronto: Dec 2003/Jan 2004
By: Nancy Kuyumcu.
TORONTO-Loblaw Cos. Ltd.'s third-quarter profit was up 16% to $218 million, or 79 cents a share, in the 16 weeks ended October 4, and compared to $188 million, or 68 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The grocery giant's stock price, however, dropped by 3.5% to $62.20 because the company fell two cents short of analysts' forecasts. Sales in all divisions grew 6.9% to $7.7 billion, a company financial report stated.
In other Loblaw news, the union representing thousands of Loblaw employees in Ontario said there was never any real fear that Loblaws' name change to Real Canadian Superstore would render the union null and void and make way for Loblaw to open nonunion shops.
"That was an argument that we certainly were having a debate about," said Michael Fraser, national director, United Food and Commercial Workers Union. "That argument could have taken place at the labour relations board for the next year. Who knows? But our position is, we believe [Loblaw] would have been forced to give us recognition."[b]
[b]Loblaw is set to close 11 conventional supermarkets in Ontario and open 41 Real Canadian Superstores in 2004. The new stores would be designed to compete against Costco and Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's discount membership warehouse that made its Canadian debut in Ontario in late October. Loblaw's Real Canadian Superstores would sell food and general merchandise at discounted prices.
A controversial part of the name change was a new collective agreement involving employee wage and benefit concessions agreed upon by Loblaw and the union. Under the new collective agreement, employees at converted stores, which sell at least 40% general merchandise and are at least 140,000 square feet, would see their wages and benefits cut. Employees at conventional stores, as well as converted stores that do not meet the above criteria, would continue to work under the old collective agreement and receive wages and benefits they've always had. Loblaw has said that the concessions were necessary to level the playing field with the grocery retailer's non-unionized rivals.