UFCW members achieve wage increase at Loblaw locations across Canada

Toronto – March 21, 2020 – Canada’s voice of grocery store workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW Canada), is pleased to announce that ongoing discussions with Loblaw have resulted in a $2 an hour wage increase for front-line employees across the country. The wage increase is in the process of being implemented and will be applied to the hourly rates of both full-time and part-time workers at all Loblaw stores and associated banners. UFCW represents more than 90,000 Loblaw employees at all banners operated by the company.

In addition to discussions with industry leaders on key measures, like the wage increase, UFCW Canada is fully leveraging its strength as an international union to actively work with global relationships in Europe and elsewhere – including a number of American retailers such as Albertsons – to identify and share some of the latest containment innovations with Canadian stakeholders. To that end, the union welcomes initiatives by Sobeys and other retailers to install plexiglass barriers in its stores, as announced earlier this week.

“The commitment shown by UFCW Canada members to their communities as front-line workers to provide safe, high quality food and essential goods throughout this situation has been truly amazing. UFCW has been in constant communication with Loblaw throughout this process to find ways to better meet the needs and concerns of UFCW members and their neighbours,” says UFCW Canada National President Paul Meinema.

“UFCW is fully committed to working with industry partners to face and overcome the challenge of containing COVID-19 and making sure that Canadians have a steady supply of essentials throughout this process. We commend Loblaw for showing leadership on this wage increase and call on other employers to follow this important example,” adds the national union leader.