New collective agreement for UFCW Local 500 members at seven Loblaw locations

New collective agreement for UFCW Local 500 members at seven Loblaw locations  Montreal – February 20, 2014 – Following a series of ratification meetings, 88% of the 900 members of UFCW Canada Local 500 have voted in favour of a new collective agreement. With this seven-year agreement, retroactive to August 2013, labour contracts are renewed for employees at seven Loblaw food stores – Ahuntsic, Cavendish, Pierrefonds, Jean-Talon, Kirkland (Provigo Le Marché), Saint-Laurent and LaSalle.

“This is great news for our members,” said Antonio Filato, president of Local 500. “It reflects our commitment and that of Loblaws to provide workers in the food sector with good working conditions despite challenges in this industry segment which has become highly competitive since the arrival of Walmart and Target. Local 500 is very proud of this agreement that it negotiated with Loblaw; it shows that the Canadian food giant’s recovery will include an investment in its labour force.”

Some highlights of the new agreement: 

“This collective agreement is yet another example to our members that their union has spared no efforts in securing their jobs and maintaining past gains,” said Antonio Filato.

Unionized labour in Quebec’s food sector at a glance: