Loblaw workers at No Frills ratify Unifor pattern grocery deal

TORONTO, Nov. 25, 2023 /CNW/ -  Workers at No Frills have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the tentative agreement after a week-long series of ratification meetings.

"Our union's fight is to improve wages and working conditions for grocery store workers. I am very proud of the work of our bargaining committee at No Frills who fought hard for this deal for their members," says Unifor National President Lana Payne. "Grocery workers across Canada deserve fair wages and work, and a union is the best way to get there. We have so much to do to achieve improvements for all retail workers, but our union will never stop this fight."

The new agreement includes front-loaded wage improvements of between $3.20 and $4.50/hour for all workers at end-rate over the duration of the agreement, a new benefits program for part-time workers, and 30 new full-time positions to be hired within a year. In the first 5 months of the agreement, full-time workers at end-rate will receive a wage increase of $2.00/hour and part-time workers at end-rate will receive an additional $1.50/hour. The new collective agreement covers more than 1,200 No Frills workers at 17 stores across Ontario.

"No Frills workers, like any worker grappling with the affordability crisis we're in, recognize that we have to push hard in order get these huge, highly profitable employers like Loblaws to budge," says Unifor Local 414 President Gord Currie. "These members were united in their demand to get their fair share of Loblaw's soaring profits."

Unifor will enter contract bargaining on behalf of more than 1,600 workers at Loblaw-owned Dominion stores in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2024.

"We're being abundantly clear with every single employer across this country: we are fighting back and mobilizing to demand better for workers who absolutely deserve decent work and pay," says Payne.

Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector and represents 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

SOURCE Unifor

For media inquiries please contact Unifor Communications Representative Paul Whyte at [email protected] or 647-549-6546 (cell).