Saskatoon Co-op, UFCW return to bargaining table

Saskatoon Co-op and the union representing its employees — who have been on strike for almost a full month — are set to return to the bargaining table today and Friday.

While both sides are publicly optimistic about the possibility of a settlement this week, some insiders are tempering their hope with caution about high expectations.

The co-operative, meanwhile, continues to use temporary workers and the 120-odd employees it claims have crossed the picket line to reopen several locations.

The co-operative says that while it has obtained a lockout notice, its workers have not been locked out.

In an interview on Wednesday, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1400 spokesman Rod Gillies acknowledged there is a “gulf ” between the parties’ positions going into bargaining.

Asked whether he expects management and the union will be able come together from “polar opposites” before the strike is a month old, the union negotiator replied, “A guy can hope.”

“If the parties discuss options in a substantive way, we can get somewhere. We can get to a deal,” he said.

Saskatoon Co-op CEO Grant Wicks used similar language, saying he expects a “fruitful bargaining session” through which an agreement to end the strike is “certainly possible.”

“I’m always optimistic. But, really, it’s going to depend on the willingness of the parties to compromise and come to a settlement.”

Around 900 Saskatoon Co-op employees hit the picket lines for the first time in a generation on Nov. 1, after 65 per cent of those who cast ballots rejected management’s final offer.

The main conflict centres on a proposed second wage tier for new hires, which would cap their maximum potential hourly earnings at a rate lower than those of current employees doing the same job.

Gillies said he needs the co-operative’s negotiators to fully explain why the new wage structure is necessary to keep the company fiscally sustainable over the long term.

The co-operative has previously rejected the union’s attempt to propose an alternative wage structure that would allow top earners in the second tier to graduate into the original pay scale, he said.

Wicks declined to discuss specifics, but emphasized that paying current wages to new hires will eventually affect the co-operative’s ability to compete with much larger grocery chains.