I am a solid Union man from way back. At some point in my career I was the Chief Steward and Vice-president of a Union that represented several thousand employees…
at a (in my opinion) very fair employer in Victoria.
I feel Unions totally have a place in large companies that employ hundreds of people or more.
Where I do not feel Unions fit in are small Mom and Pop operations, small businesses in general. In todays economy, there are so many jobs to pick from that most employers live up to their obligations and follow the rules.
Enter The Overwaitea Food Group.
The Overwaitea Food Group, which also runs Save-On-Foods and Urban Fare, made the demand for two-hour shifts as it began negotiating a new contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
2 hour shifts. Where in this economy, in this Province, in this time in Earth history do we need 2 hour shifts for employees? What is the Overwaitea Food Group thinking?
What about the labor code you ask? Shortly after coming into power in 2001, the Liberal government changed the provincial minimum shift from four hours to two hours. Thank-you Gordon Campbell. The same Gordon Campbell that broke international law and Canadian human rights when he tore up legitimate contracts with the Health care industry. This same Gordon Campbell government got walloped in Canadian Supreme court who said: “No, no, no!” to the flagrant and unjustified bend in the rules.
The union representing the food workers also stated that Overwaitea wants union members to pay part of their own benefits, and the grocery giant wants to be able to convert any store to a PriceSmart outlet — with the matching reduction in contract language. Geeze.
Overwaitea and Save-On-Foods are owned by the Jim Pattison Group, Canada’s third-largest privately owned company, with $6.3 billion in sales in 2005, according to its website… Jimmy Pattison was previously mentioned in an earlier blog on outdoor Billboards in Toronto where more than 1/2 the Billboards on the streets of Toronto are unlicensed and illegally installed.
Way to go Jimmy!
Now play fair and make nice with your loyal workers!