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Loblaw Companies and Metro report significant jumps in revenue amid affordability crisis
As we go to press with this issue, Food Basics members, whose collective agreement expired on August 13, 2023, have given their Union Negotiating Committee a clear strike mandate of 99.5%. You can find more about that vote and what brought those 7,350 members to this point on page 12.
Members at Great Food Stores and Real Canadian Superstores have also begun joint bargaining for renewal collective agreements. This bargaining includes members at UFCW Local 1006A at Loblaws Great Food and Superstores. This solidarity bargaining between our two Locals is, I believe, the largest private sector bargaining in the province covering approximately 26,000 retail grocery workers. You can read more about the early stages of these negotiations on page 13.
At stake in both sets of bargaining here is a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a worker; on what it means to be essential and what it means to be valued for your work.
More and more, we see workers holding billion-dollar companies responsible for corporate greed; where exorbitant profits are made off the backs of employees while very little of those profits ever end up in the workers’ pockets.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. reported a 11.7% jump in net earnings in its third quarter, with a $877 million revenue increase.1 Metro Inc. reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $222.2 million; 31.7% more that the same quarter last year.2
In other words, these companies and their shareholders are doing more than fine. Yet, their employees and customers, who create those profits with their labour and purchases, worry about being able to afford basic necessities.
Please visit ufcw175.com for news on bargaining for Food Basics, Great Food Stores, and Real Canadian Superstore members. These collective agreements, along with members at Local 1006A, determine the working future for more than 33,000 people in Ontario.
Workers deserve better. Compensation, from wages to benefits and more, should reflect workers' contributions to these high-profit corporations and to the stability of our economy and communities.
Customers deserve fair grocery prices. Global food insecurity is a result of systemic ongoing problems that have long been neglected by governments and corporations that have the power to fix those issues. The inflated cost of food and more by companies looking to make already wealthy shareholders richer, only makes the problem much worse.
This year, your Executive Board approved donations to food banks totalling $200,000. I am consistently proud of the generosity of your Executive Board and the members of this Union. Your dedication to your communities and those in need is inspiring. Humanitarian crises are happening in many parts of the world right now, and many people are hurting. Together, we are capable of building a better life and I hope for a more peaceful world; one where the safety, humanity, and dignity of people is put first.
In Solidarity,
