Safeway/Sobey's workers find progress at negotiating table with tentative deal reached with Local 1518

 

The prospect of a strike at Canada Safeway locations in British Columbia has been reduced heading into October. 

That as the membership awaits further word towards a tentative deal between their union the UFCW and Sobeys, the parent company for the Safeway employees in the province.

An information release from UFCW local 1518 charts the latest progress in the negotiations, which had seen the membership deliver a strong strike mandate a few weeks ago.

The negotiations began on September 20th with the announcement of the tentative deal coming on September 28th. 

The union leadership noting of the work ahead before taking it to the membership.

With over 75 pages of agreed items, there is a lot of work to do in preparation for a vote. In the leadup to the vote, the Bargaining Committee will connect with the Sobeys Advisory Committee and Shop Stewards and carefully review the agreement with Union Reps. 

Then, UFCW 1518 will provide all members with a rollout plan, which will include when members can expect to see the details of the contract and ask questions ahead of a ratification vote.

The general grocery workers union also notes that they continue to stand aligned with UFCW 247 which has yet to start its negotiations with Safeway/Sobeys, that local represents Meat, Deli and Seafood employees.

UFCW 1518 is also committed to standing in solidarity with workers in the Safeway deli, meat and seafood departments, members of UFCW 247, who will return to the bargaining table shortly. 

UFCW 1518 has worked closely with UFCW 247 throughout bargaining, including taking strike votes within the same time frames. Now that an agreement has been reached, UFCW 1518 will continue to support 247 in their fight for a fair deal.

UFCW 247 highlighted their path moving forward in an update for the membership following the September 28th tentative deal with 1518 was reached.

An unmistakable characteristic of this round of bargaining has been how closely we’ve worked with UFCW 1518. Our strike votes and bargaining meetings have been coordinated so as to demonstrate union solidarity across the stores. As UFCW 1518 expressed to their members in an update this morning, their solidarity and support for UFCW 247 will continue. 

Our meetings with the company after Thanksgiving (October 11-14) are still happening. Our bargaining committee's work is still ahead. 

Without a doubt, we share many issues with UFCW 1518 members, but we still have issues that are unique to our departments and that we need to address when we meet with Sobeys. Just last week, our members gave us the strongest kind of leverage we could ask for – a 99% strike authorization vote with a massive turnout. With that in hand, we will continue to push for a tentative agreement of our own, one that we can strongly recommend to UFCW Local 247 members.

Updates on the work ahead for both locals can be followed below:

UFCW 1518

UFCW 247

More notes from the Northwest commercial sector can be reviewed here.