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TORONTO — Unifor says grocery workers have more resolve than ever to achieve higher wages and better working conditions as it heads into a two-year stretch of bargaining for more than a dozen collective agreements.

The work will begin with negotiations next week for a contract covering 3,700 Metro workers across the Greater Toronto Area, who — in an unusual move — have already voted 100 per cent in favour of a strike if a deal can't be reached.

The strike vote ahead of bargaining and 100 per cent support for a strike are both rare, said Stephanie Ross, an associate professor in the school of labour studies at McMaster University.

"I think that tells you something about the sense of urgency," said Ross. "People are falling behind every day." 

The strike vote sends a strong signal not just to Metro, but to all three grocery giants that their workers are fed up, said Unifor national president Lana Payne. 

"We need to send a signal and a very serious message to the supermarket barons that workers deserve a piece of these profits, and they deserve to have better pay, better working conditions and more full-time jobs," she said.

"We want to make important gains in this round of bargaining. We feel we're in a good place to do that." 

Unifor represents more than 11,000 grocery store workers at major grocers across Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec, the union said. Payne said the next collective agreement up for bargaining will be for Loblaw workers in Newfoundland and Labrador this fall. 

Workers have seen the quality of their jobs erode over time, with inflation eating into their wages even as the grocers post healthy profits, Payne said. 

The pandemic underscored just how essential grocery store workers are, Payne said, noting that many of them received so-called 'hero pay' early on only to have it taken away — something that GTA Metro worker Courtney Cook said "felt like a slap in the face."

"This is our first bargaining since the pandemic," Cook said. "A lot of things changed during the pandemic, and we were deemed essential workers. So I think everyone's just frustrated that our pay doesn't reflect that kind of status." 

Unifor held a national strategy session in May to determine its priorities for grocery sector bargaining, said Payne, as the union is hoping to establish a pattern and gain momentum with the first round at Metro. Those priorities include significant pay improvements, greater access to better health benefits, eliminating pay disparities, more full-time work and job protections for workers affected by technological changes, she said. 

Metro spokeswoman Stephanie Bonk said in an email that the grocer is committed to working with the union to reach an agreement that meets employees' needs while also giving the company flexibility to meet and exceed customers' expectations. 

The major grocers have come under public scrutiny as inflation surged across sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ last year, hitting more than eight per cent last June as the cost of basic necessities rose. Executives from the grocers spoke earlier this year in front of a parliamentary committee studying grocery prices, denying accusations that food price inflation was being driven by profit-mongering. 

But accusations of profiteering aside, the grocers have been posting profits. On Thursday, Empire Company Ltd. reported it earned $182.9 million in its latest quarter compared with $178.5 million a year ago. Loblaw in its latest earnings report reported a profit of $418 million in its first quarter, down from $437 million last year when the company saw a one-time gain from a court ruling. And Metro in its second quarter reported earnings of $218.8 million, up from $198.1 million a year earlier. 

Unifor is determined to get a bigger slice of that pie for workers, Payne said. 

"It's really just hard that we're putting in everything we have for this company. And we're not getting back what we feel we deserve," said Cook. 

Between the pandemic and the briefness of hero pay, ongoing inflation and grocers' profits, the grocery sector is in the midst of a "perfect storm," said Ross, leading to more labour militancy — and not just in the grocery sector. 

"People are much more willing to hit the bricks than they perhaps have been … in a long time." 

Ross said this first round with GTA Metro workers is all-important to set a benchmark for the pattern bargaining approach that Unifor is taking, where it tries to set a standard for one collective agreement and then replicate it across the sector.

In addition to better pay, Cook said she wants to see jobs at Metro become more stable, giving workers more predictable hours so they can better prioritize their families and their lives outside of work. 

She said the 100-per-cent strike vote shows workers are ready to do whatever it takes to get what they deserve, and she thinks grocery store workers across the country will be approaching the bargaining table with the same kind of resolve. 

Payne thinks the pandemic has also made Canadians more aware of grocery workers and what they face, and that this will translate into public support and sympathy as the workers bargain with grocers. 

"They risked their health and safety every single day, to go to work for a job that in many cases was not paying them a decent wage," she said.

"Enough is enough here. We have to make good improvements in this collective agreement, and the resolve of our members is very strong. And I think this strike vote clearly shows they're prepared to fight if they need to." 

Ross said recent major strikes have seen record levels of public support for workers in the wake of the pandemic and high inflation.

"There's a much more positive climate of potential public support for the union than there maybe has been in decades," she said. 

"But … it all comes down to strategy, how the union and the employer frames their messages and how those messages land with the public."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2023.

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Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press