Safeway employees to vote on new contract amid Freshco conversion
Safeway employees in Saskatchewan’s two major cities are expected to spend the next week voting on a new collective agreement that, if ratified, would come into effect once their stores are converted to Freshco locations next year.
Some Safeway employees are saying the document, a copy of which was obtained this week by the Saskatoon Starphoenix, is not as good as their current contract, while others are weighing their options once the stores close in March.
“There’s a lot of people really upset,” said one Safeway employee in Saskatoon, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
According to the tentative agreement between Safeway’s parent company, Sobeys Inc., and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), employees will have four options once the Safeway stores close this spring.
RWDSU spokesman Trevor Miller declined to comment until after the votes are tallied next week. Sobeys asked for written questions from the Saskatoon Starphoenix, but ultimately did not provide any responses.
Up to 20 per cent of the positions in the new Freshco stores will be filled by current Safeway employees based on seniority; they will be able to retain their current pay rates, health and dental benefits, vacation days and pensions.
The remaining employees can accept a “buy-down” of two weeks’ pay for each year of service up to $40,000 for full-time workers and $15,000 for part-time employees, and slot into a pay rate “closest” to their former wage.
Another option is a buyout, with full-time workers receiving four weeks’ pay for each year of service up to a maximum of $50,000 and part-time employees receiving the same up to a maximum of $15,000.
That rises to $25,000 for parttime employees with more than 25 years’ service, according to the tentative agreement. In both cases, no employee would receive less than $2,500, the document states.
The final option allows employees to exercise their “bumping” rights under the current Safeway collective agreement, effectively taking over positions at the University Heights Safeway from less senior workers.
The employee expressed specific concern for part-time employees who frequently work at or near full-time levels but would be “getting very little” under the new contract. The tentative agreement creates a separate pay grid for part-time employees, with generally lower minimum hourly wages. The current collective agreement contains multiple wage tiers for various types of employees.
Sobeys announced this summer that the three Saskatoon stores, as well as its Regent Park store in Regina, would close in March 2020 and reopen as Freshcos in the summer as part of its plan to rebrand “underperforming ” locations in Western Canada.
The company’s Confederation, Market Mall and 33rd Street West stores will be affected. The University Heights Safeway will remain a Safeway, as will the Lawson Heights store, which is a franchise and operates under a separate agreement.