Metro claims unfair labor practices by Unifor in weeks-long strike

Metro Inc. has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Unifor in connection with the union’s nearly four-week strike at 27 of the Canadian grocer’s stores in greater Toronto.

Montreal-based Metro confirmed published reports of the Ontario Labor Relations Board filing in an email on Thursday to Winsight Grocery Business. The retailer claims Unifor is rejecting its requests to resume collective bargaining to resolve the strike, which started July 29 when about 3,700 Metro associates represented by Unifor Local 414 at walked off the job after voting down a tentative contract agreement reached July 19. The stores have been closed since the work stoppage began.

Earlier this month, Metro said, Unifor had declined the grocer’s offers to arrange a meeting between their bargaining committees and have an Ontario Ministry of Labor-appointed conciliation officer step in to act as a mediator in the labor dispute.

“The union has refused to return to the bargaining table and allow Metro to present an offer in an effort to resolve the current labor conflict, despite repeated invitations on Metro’s part,” Marie-Claude Bacon, vice president of public affairs and communications at Metro, said in the email. “The union has breached its duty to bargain in good faith and to make every reasonable effort to negotiate a collective agreement.”

Related:Picketing in Metro strike extends to pair of distribution centers

On Wednesday, Unifor launched what it called a “secondary picket” by Metro workers at two of the retailer’s Toronto-area distribution centers, located at 75 Vickers Rd. and 5559 Dundas St. West. Bacon reported that the picketers were impeding fresh food deliveries to both facilities, which supply all Metro and Food Basics stores in the province, and said Thursday that Metro is “looking into our options regarding an injunction.”

At a press conference on Wednesday at the distribution center pickets, Unifor officials reiterated that union members are still waiting for Metro to make a new contract offer that warrants a resumption of negotiations. The fact that the grocer hasn’t done so led to the union’s rejection of the company’s recent offers to meet and involve a conciliation officer.

The union recently rejected Metro’s offer to come back to the table with the assistance of a Ministry-appointed conciliation officer. The Unifor Local 414 Metro bargaining committee, comprised of frontline Metro workers, unanimously voted against going back to the table until Metro returns with an improved offer.

“Unifor is aware of Metro’s complaint to the Ontario Labor Relations Board that Metro’s employees are striking for better wages. What’s really unfair is Metro’s refusal to provide decent work and pay to its 3,700 frontline grocery workers,” Unifor said in a statement on Thursday. “The union is disappointed that Metro has not come back to the bargaining table with a wage offer that ensures its frontline grocery workers can afford food, rent and to support their families.”

Related:Metro gives strike update in reporting strong Q3 results

Metro’s cancellation of a $2-per-hour bonus paid to frontline workers during the pandemic has been a sore point with union members in wage negotiations and played a pivotal role in the rejection of the tentative contract proposal, according to Unifor.

“Frontline grocery workers have already told us loud and clear that Metro’s offer simply wasn’t good enough,” Unifor Local 414 President Gord Currie commented on Wednesday at the distribution center picket.

According to Unifor, the secondary picket lines will continue until further notice.

“Frontline grocery workers are tired of being ignored and underpaid by Metro during an affordability crisis,” Unifor National President Lana Payne stated in the media event on Wednesday at the Toronto distribution center picket. “Metro can expect secondary picket lines at more of their properties until they come back to the table with a serious wage offer for these brave workers, who are forgoing their paychecks to take a stand against corporate greed. Workers are rightfully demanding more from one of Canada’s richest grocers, whose historic profits aren’t being fairly shared with the workforce responsible for their success.”

Related:Loss of ‘hero pay’ resurfaces in Metro contract talks

The strike marked the second recent walkout by Unifor Local 414-represented Metro employees after a tentative deal was nixed. In April 2022, Metro settled a nearly week-long strike by more than 900 full-time workers at its Etobicoke, Ontario, distribution center when Unifor Local 414 members ratified a new four-and-a-half-year contract. Warehouse employees represented by the local had opted to strike after voting down a preliminary agreement between the union and Metro.