Newmarket’s Metro grocery store workers are striking today as their union seeks a new collective agreement from the chain.
Both the Yonge Street and Davis Drive locations were among 27 Greater Toronto Area Metros closed for the strike. It comes after workers, represented by Unifor Local 414, rejected a deal with Metro Friday and went into a strike position. The stores will remain closed for the duration of the strike, although pharmacies at the Metros will remain open.
Yonge Street Metro bakery manager Charlotte Morrow said the agreement is not offering enough wage increases while taking some poor steps like reducing breaks.
“It’s still not enough with inflation for us to afford and shop here at our own location,” Morrow said. “We’re not going to be selling the product if we can’t afford it ourselves.”
The union and Metro had reached a tentative collective agreement last week, but members voted to reject it. The union said the deal was put to a vote because it contained “significant gains,” but the workers made clear it was not enough.
“This decision to go on strike comes after years of these workers being nickelled and dimed while facing increased precarity and eroded job quality,” Unifor National president Lana Payne said in a news release. “It comes after having pandemic pay stripped away. It comes at a time of record profits and soaring CEO compensation. It comes at a time when life has become simply unaffordable for so many of these workers who risked their health and safety during the pandemic.”
Polleen Scott, another worker at the Yonge Street Metro, cited the compensation of Metro CEO Eric La Flèche as an issue. He was paid more than $5 million, including stocks and options, in the 2021 fiscal year, according to a 2022 Unifor news release.
“All the stores that are on strike right now don’t make a fraction of his bonus,” Scott said. “We are on the poverty line … We’re starving, and we work at a grocery store.”
Metro said it is disappointed workers rejected the agreement reached last week, despite the union bargaining committee recommending it to members. The company apologized for the inconvenience to customers.
“The company has been negotiating with the union for the past few weeks and reached a fair and equitable agreement that meets the needs of our employees and our customers while ensuring that Metro remains competitive,” the company said in a news release today. “The settlement provided significant increases for employees in all four years of the agreement, as well as pension and benefits improvements for all employees, including part-time employees.”
The strike is occurring among 3,700 Metro employees represented by Unifor Local 414. Although it involves 27 stores also including Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Brampton, Milton, Mississauga and Orangeville, other Metros are not affected. No other Metros in York Region outside of Newmarket are part of the strike.
Morrow said she feels like an agreement could have been reached sooner and that employees recognize they cannot get everything they want, but she said the pay is still not enough.
“We hope the public is in support,” Morrow said. “We do want to be in there serving the customers, but we do also want to be paid right and treated right.”
