Union issue disrupts Couche-tarde meeting
CEO cuts off labour leader, shareholders with questions about firm’s tactics
LAVAL — The chief executive of Alimentation CoucheTard got into a nasty exchange over its anti-unionization stance at its annual meeting with shareholders.
Alain Bouchard cut off a union leader and shareholder who sought an explanation about the company’s fight against efforts to unionize its stores.
He insisted that he would only answer questions about the meeting and moved onto the next speaker.
Security turned off her microphone and unsuccessfully tried to remove her from the room.
The exchange prompted a long-term shareholder to admonish the company founder about how his attitude could harm Couche-Tard’s public image.
This year, the convenience store chain put a location in St-Liboire up for sale after workers obtained union ac- creditation.
Chief financial officer Raymond Pare later told reporters the meeting wasn’t the suitable place for those questions that affected just a few stores in Quebec.
Meanwhile, the retailer spent $2.8 billion U.S. this year to acquire Scandinavia’s Statoil Fuel & Retail, a largely unionized company as is generally the case in Scandinavia.
In fact, the union has a representative on Statoil’s board of directors.
The company continues to look for acquisition opportunities and recently completed some small deals in Florida and Washington state.
Couche-Tard is also testing the sale of its own U.S. soft drink brand in Canada as it continues to push higher margin private label brands.
The Quebec-based convenience store chain is selling Polar Pop in four markets — Gatineau and Trois-Rivieres, Red Deer, Alta., and Okanagan, B.C.
Couche-Tard also sells its own coffee and Crown cigarette brands at its U.S. Circle K stores. The cigarettes won’t be sold in Canada.
The company moved to launch the cigarette brand after tobacco giant Philip Morris forced price and mar- gin reductions.
Couche-Tard’s focus on higher margins has seen sales increase by more than 10 per cent annually over several years.
It expects to harness the expertise from its recently acquired Statoil Fuel & Retail chain in Scandinavia to improve those results more in the coming years.