Tentative labour deal reached at Safeway

Details

Published on Friday, March 23, 2018

Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press

A strike has been averted at Safeway stores across Manitoba, including the Neepawa location. On Saturday, Mar. 17, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 832, the union representing about 2,200 employees, announced that a tentative agreement had been reached with Sobeys West Inc.

The deal was reached just hours before the union would have been in a legal strike position. The workers had voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike earlier this month, although no strike date had been set. The union had said it would be legally able to strike Sunday, the day after the current contract expired.

“This round of bargaining was unlike any other I’ve ever had in my years here at Local 832,” said union president Jeff Traeger. “I want to give thanks to our membership for giving us our 98 per cent strike mandate which helped to move the company off of many of their major concessions, and the bargaining committee who did an amazing job of holding the line for the 2,200 Safeway workers in Manitoba.”

The details of the tentative agreement will be presented to the members at meetings across the province on Sunday, Mar. 25 and a vote will be held.  the bargaining committee will be recommending that members accept the tentative agreement. Neepawa employees will hold their meeting at the Neepawa Public Library at 9:00 a.m.