Newmarket Metros locations are about to open again with the end of a month-long strike, but some local workers are unhappy with the ratified deal.
Workers at 27 GTA Metros represented by Unifor agreed to the deal Aug. 31, which will include an increase of $2 per hour within months for full-time workers and $1.50 per hour for part-time workers. This represents a frontloading of pay increases, Unifor said.
However, some Newmarket workers questioned the new deal. Although the total wage increase is higher than the one rejected a month ago, the new deal is five years, as opposed to four, making the yearly increase more marginal.
“A lot of people aren’t happy,” Newmarket Yonge Street Metro worker Charlotte Morrow said. “The store employees are not happy … I’m disappointed.”
The new deal will see full-time workers get a $4.50 per hour improvement over the duration of the deal, an average increase of 90 cents per hour per year. The previously rejected deal that began the strike for full-time workers was $3.65 over four years, amounting to a 91-cent increase per year.
For senior part-time workers, the new deal will add $3.20 per hour over five years, amounting to about 64 cents per year, whereas the previous deal was $2.65 over four years, amounting to 66 cents per year.
“They stretched it out to five years to screw us over even more,” Yonge Street Metro worker Colleen Scott said. “Stretching it out another year is like saying, ‘this is what happens when you go against Metro.’”
But Unifor said the deal is more frontloaded than the last, allowing workers to see pay increases sooner. A pay increase of $1.50 per hour will be immediate for full time.
“Workers made it abundantly clear that they needed to see real wage gains in the first year of the agreement to address the affordability issues they currently face, which is exactly what we accomplished in this new contract,” Unifor Local 414 president Gord Currie said in a news release. “I am extremely proud of our bargaining committee and all Metro workers for their bravery and determination.”
Metro said the deal also features pension and benefit improvements for all employees, including part-time employees.
“We are pleased to have reached a fair and reasonable outcome,” Metro senior vice-president Joe Fusco said. “Throughout this process, Metro has remained committed to bargaining in good faith and made every reasonable effort to present a serious offer to meet the needs of our employees and our business. Our store employees benefit from wages and working conditions among the highest in the industry, and the new contract maintains those standards”
Yonge Street grocery manager Christopher Frith said the deal has made for some hurt feelings, but there are benefits to it.
“There was things that were lacking in the deal, particularly the wage,” Firth said. “But again, you can’t win all the battles.”
Some workers have expressed taking on financial hardship during the strike.
“I believe that the people, our workers here definitely did take on quite a bit of debt during the strike,” Firth said. “But we were trying to fight not just for ourselves, but for other retail workers. The No Frills, the Loblaws workers and everybody.”
