3,700 GTA Metro workers go on strike on Tuesday
Looks like it’s down to the wire.
With 3,700 workers in GTA Metro stores going on strike at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, the supermarket chain and Unifor Local 414 are still at the negotiating table.
While neither side would reveal details about the negotiations taking place at a Toronto-area hotel, the union has publicly said there has been some progress in talks since a unanimous vote last month for a strike.
In an emailed statement, Metro spokesperson Stephanie Bonk said the company is committed to reaching an agreement and will remain at the table.
“We are committed to working with the union to reach an agreement that meets the needs of our employees, while at the same time giving the company the flexibility it needs to meet and exceed the needs and expectations of our customers. outperform,” Bonk said.
In an interview last month, shortly after Metro workers voted 100 percent to strike, Unifor National President Lana Payne said the union was seeking better wages and benefits and was trying to convert more part-time jobs to full-time jobs. .
Grocery chains across the country have seen their profits soar during the pandemic, and workers are trying to get what they see as their cut, Payne said.
In the second quarter, Metro earned $218.8 million, up 10 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Metro also saw revenue rise to $4.55 billion in the quarter, up 6.6 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The fact that the two sides are still in talks bodes well for settlement prospects, said Rafael Gomez, director of the University of Toronto’s Center for Industrial Relations and Human Resources.
“There’s been very little bitterness, at least in public,” Gomez said. “I don’t think we will see a strike.”
The workers have much more influence than they would have had the global COVID-19 pandemic never broken out, Gomez argued.
“Front line jobs in the service industry were becoming increasingly difficult to fill even before the pandemic. And what these workers went through during the pandemic made it even harder,” Gomez said.
The company also likely knows that playing tough on employees who were lauded as frontline workers during the pandemic would not be well received by the public eye, Gomez said.
“When you’re a company the size of Metro, brand equity matters. And it’s an important consideration,” Gomez said.
Sylvain Charlebois, chief of the Agri-Food Analytics lab at Dalhousie University, agreed that the battle for public opinion is likely a key factor for Metro.
“They’re probably more concerned about the prospects of a possible strike than the impact on their business,” says Charlebois.
Part of that, Charlebois said, is that Ontario plays less of a role in Metro’s earnings than Quebec, where it is much more firmly entrenched.
“If this were Quebec, they would be much more concerned about the impact on the business,” says Charlebois, who also does not expect a strike.
“I’d be surprised if there was actually a strike, but you never know,” said Charlebois.
