Great to see shareholders come before essential workers.

   

No fucking surprise at all.

Unfortunately, by taking action, the affected Safeway stores will end up being closed by Sobeys and will eventually re-open under the FreshCo name. 2 of the 3 Safeways where I live were shut down when the existing union contracts expired 2 years ago. Both stores went through extensive renovations (Freshco does not offer an in-store deli, bakery or butcher) and re-opened almost a year later. Many other Safeway stores went through the same process. I used to shop for some (not all) my groceries at Safeway and I have never even walked into Freshco.


He is correct in saying that other companies have followed suit with removing the "shift premium" that was being paid to retail workers during this pandemic. I lost mine on June 1st.

   

They already made those ads and ran them for months about how much they care.
Coffee break's over - back on your heads!

   

There has to be some push back on this. The stipend for the bonus should have penalties if it is not being issued to the desired end user. That is entirely on the government for not making that a prerequisite for the aid.

Time for some stringent regulation of the food industry.

   

But, but, those important shareholders won't see a proper return on investment if the stores treat the front-line employees like human beings!

   

Grocery stores have been losing their Deli, Meat and Bakery for decades. Too much labour costs, when they could just use pre-packed product from TFW labour.

I noticed early on in the Covid thread that the people deemed 'essential' also get paid the least.

   

No, time for people to wake up and find our food industry is terrible. Subsidies for shit product, terrible quality, and processed beyond recognition. Change will come when people realize places like Europe and France manage to have much better quality, and Japan has superior freshness, all at similar prices as we do.

My dream is that the trend to backyard growing that Covid brought us leads people to demand that kind of freshness from the food industry.

   

Thanks for the heads up - I hardly ever shop at Safeway or Sobey's, but I guess I'll have to add it to the list of places to avoid.






Unless something has changed since I lived in Japan, I didn't find that food prices in Japan were similar to ours at all.

Whether its rice, meat/fish, dairy, bread, fruit/vegetables, etc., the prices for just about everything is higher than it is probably because of much higher land, labour and energy inputs. Even imported food is often more expensive because of tariffs to protect domestic industries.

Further, unlike here there are seldom discounts for buying multiples of products (i.e. a six pack of beer costs the same as six individual beer). However. in that case, you can buy it and enjoy it in public on the beach or in a park without getting hassled by the po-po.

   

My old lady is THE Deli worker at our SaveOn. What you describe isn't deli. She has to slice meats, make sandwiches and salads and assemble combos there in store.
And I hate to say it but those Chinese combos made from WF frozen stuff are better than at the Chinese restaurants here... she can't make them fast enough.