VIDEO: Metro grocery workers are on strike

Several Metro grocery stores around the Toronto area were closed on Saturday due to a worker strike, just as shoppers were getting ready to purchase their food needs for the week.

Thousands of Metro workers hit the picket lines in front of 27 grocery stores after the workers rejected a deal executed by Unifor Local 414, reports Canadian publication TriCity News.

The union called the agreement one of the best offers in decades, but Metro workers said they were still frustrated about what they claim to be poor working conditions across the entire Canadian grocery sector.

“What I can say is that we remain committed to the bargaining process,” Metro grocery said in an emailed statement to Supermarket News. “We worked constructively with the union and the employees’ bargaining committee and we reached a mutually satisfactory agreement that they unanimously recommended to employees. 

“It provided significant increases for our employees over the four years of the collective agreement in addition to improved pension and benefits, building on working conditions that are already among the highest in the industry which were negotiated with this union. 

“The proposed wage increases are above the inflation rate for 2023 and future increases are above the projected inflation rate.”

Unifor National President Lana Payne said 70% of Metro jobs are now part-time and no longer offer the kind of support needed for grocery workers who support families. She added that workers also want a bigger piece of the record profits that are being generated by grocers.

Metro said there are indeed full-time vacancies within the company that can be filled by part-time employees.

Video courtesy of CTV.