Talks broke off as the company refused to move off a final offer which would lock workers into a long contract without a living wage increase, leaving members with more than 25 years of service just 60 cents above minimum wage.
Baxtrom’s Your Independent Grocer (YIG) is a franchise of Loblaw Companies Ltd – the number one grocery retailer in Canada.
“The company is trying to bully workers and their families in smaller communities like Cornwall because they think they can,” says Roland Lapins, Regional Director of UFCW Canada Local 1006A. “It is possible to run a good business without hurting the hardworking people who give their best to make the company successful.”
Workers are calling for a fair deal with a living wage increase.
“The company’s proposals would hurt the livelihoods of workers and their families in Cornwall,” says Lapins. “We are calling on the company to negotiate a fair contract with a living wage increase that acknowledges the valuable role our members play in making Loblaw the multi-billion-dollar success it is today.”
Workers at Baxtrom’s YIG are calling on friends and neighbours to support them by shopping elsewhere during the labour dispute.
Local 1006A represents approximately 150 workers at Baxtrom’s YIG.
UFCW Canada Local 1006A is one of Ontario’s largest local unions, with more than 36,000 members. The local union represents more than 20,000 grocery store workers across the province.
Companies exploit opportunities for profit such as fuel prices. When they go up, food prices go up but when fuel prices decrease, the price of food remains inflated. When employees are sacrificed so that profit is the priority, it’s time to show loyalty/shop somewhere else. The days of employees being treated like family is long gone. Sad! Sad!
There is no more employees being treated like family. Where my daughter works people who have been there for many years want to leave and many have. One lady had a stroke and couldn’t work anymore and it is a slave factory – that is what we call it. The customers treat the employees like dirt and it is a real hell to go to. The big corporations don’t give a damn about their employees as all.
I would say to the people at Baxtroms as well as the Post Office, etc. don’t rock the boat and get back to work while you have a job so far because everyone is going to be replaced by robots. The past is the past with high salaries like Domtar, Courthaulds, ICI, etc. Housing is going to go to nothing and a lot of jobs are being replaced by automation.
Cars are being manufactured in Mexico, China and such places for a great deal less money. The US is also affected besides our Oshawa plant. You all haven’t seen anything yet. A huge crash in the economy is coming and housing is going to crash as well and banks are mighty afraid. People will have to learn to live with a great deal less. Thank God we rent and sold out a long time ago.
Jamie,
I suggest to you that with your Jules being allowed to ramble on making comment after comment / mostly nonsense ( in my opinion ) that the volume of her comments is a deterrent to many who might wish to comment , in other words why would a person even
consider making a comment after Jules excessoiive rambling , she is ruining CFN .
Believe Me CFN pulls in over 1 Million Human Pageviews monthly. I would suggest your pandering to our former mayor and supporting his abusive policies such as the city’s conspiratorial boycott of CFN did far more damage. Jules, rightly or wrongly, is more famous than just about anyone in Cornwall because of CFN. When she gets her occasional suspensions people actually email in asking if she’s ok.
For a senior that grew up in Cornwall she seems to actually care more about this city than many others.
While you sir have your niche on the waterfront, you duck other truly more important issues. That’s your choice.
Sadly too many, especially older Cornwallites can’t handle or deal with the very real truths that have held back Cornwall and continue to.
The only way to fix something…is to fix it and you haven’t shown the cojones to do so, just like you choose to hide behind a user id instead of posting with your name, right?
We’re talking about working at a grocery store… if you want more than minimum wage (which is already too high a compensation) get a career, not a job.
I know because I know. Yet no offer to produce such proof.
Saying something is one thing, but basically nothing. Saying something with proof to back it up is something else.
@Dan. Wow!! In this day and age, you still feel that people are better than others and jobs are defined by status. You are exactly why societal problems continue to exist.
Hi Jamie. I wasn’t on yesterday because my sinus is acting up with headaches and no sleep. I look like hell today runneth over. You are the best Jamie and I mean it both as a person and your news. I will have to go and lay down for a while since I haven’t slept. The cat would have been frightened to see me today and would have run away and hid.
I hav hard that I canot cros there strike line. I want to go by my favorit Pc cokies. Is this true I canot cross the line?
Bert…they also sell PC products at No Frills. And yes you can cross the picket line if you want to
Baxtrom employees be thankful that you have a job. My daughter is gone to work as a grocery clerk as well and has been in the same hell hole for six years now. My daughter’s boss called her in this morning to go earlier than her shift because it was very busy and she got dressed and went. The economy of Canada, the US and the entire world is going to crash. Be thankful for whatever you get.
Believe Me what about your babbling rambling of nonsense that has no meaning. I laughed a while ago about one American man criticizing the Canadian sheeple in Toronto and earlier I heard hubby say to me that he has regretted the day he came to Canada and so many foreigners feel the same way. I hear it almost on a daily basis. Before you criticize me look at yourself.
Believe Me I want you to ask Jamie if I ever complained about you or anyone here on CFN and I want Jamie to say it truthfully 100% and in front of everyone. I am not one to run behind your back nor in front unless I have good cause to do so. CORNHOLE is the joke of the entire country and you all have no idea until you leave it and find out for yourselves. I told you the truth right in print.
One more thing that I wanted to post here Jamie. People are being replaced by machines and companies don’t need the amount of people that they used to have. There are machines in the supermarket here in Ottawa for people to use instead of going to the cashier and this is all coming soon – called automation. The same thing with many jobs out there that they don’t need people. Wake the hell up.
Jules has never complained about any member. And when I complain about Jules or give her her little vacations I let her know, but Jules if you really care about li’l old CFN you’d make my job easier and not try and post some of the stuff that people never get to read.
One more thing about Baxtroms or any other company. You work for the company and you draw a salary no matter what level you are at. You can be a nurse, a teacher, or whatever but you work for a company or a hospital, etc and you draw a salary and be mighty thankful that you have a job. A great many jobs are being replaced by automation and companies can hire who they want.
Jamie your paper CFN is the best there is in Cornhole and area and no mainstream/lamestream can match your CFN which is tops. With companies going to Mexico what will happen to the grocery stores for food the way people are striking and the more the strikes the more things cost. There is no win in this insanity. You are the best Jamie.
Jamie I sure do care about CFN. Do you know how long since I looked at Ottawa’s toilet papers of record. I have to get the news from my son what goes on here. Your CFN is tops and I mean that. I sure have a lot of laughs here and I sure need it to keep kind of sane.
I will not cross the line and will continue to boycott Baxtrom’s. He’s a greedy owner who doesn’t care for his employees even before this strike. I’ve been going to Giant Tiger, Farm boy and M&M’s
and will continue where their prices are lower.
I suggest that Mr Baxtrom is really not calling the shots on this one it’s the parent
& real owner Loblaw . I further suggest that perhaps the real interest here is to
break the Union , perhaps close the store and rebrand with another name and go non
Union .
Jamie ,
it sure appears to me that shortly Baxtrom will lock the Business up . WHY ?
I believe the strings / CONTROL / is Loblaws / WHY would they do that ?
To get rid of the Union and reopen under another name / No UNion .
Wouldn’t be the first time it happened and won’t be the last time it happens. It’s happened at least once here……A & P.
If the plan is to close the store it’ll decertify the union. But if they reopen under any of the Loblaws banner it’ll be unionized. Loblaws stores in Ontario are unionized under UFCW 1006A. Reopening under a new brand would be under lower wages and benefits, perhaps the goal being sought by the owners and parent organization.
We’ll see!!
Or maybe it simply is that this store hasn’t be able to catch up to the MW jump that occurred and it trying to survive?
The minimum wage hike was not well thought out by the Wynne government. Bumping it that much and not thinking about the workers at the $14 already was just plain stupid!! Those higher paid workers now make the same as someone just starting. The incentive is now gone for them to do more. It would have been better to raise the wage in increments. But Wynne wanted the votes!!
I’m sure it’s hurting the local YI more than some of the other grocery stores. I walked out of Food Basics this morning because even though the parking lot wasn’t very full the lineups at the cash were unacceptable. That’s bad management.
Imagine leaving Independent Grocer with $400 of food and not paying, and when stopped at your car, offering the owner $25 to call it square.
Well, according to Macleans Magazine (see Jason Markusoff, 11 Jan 18), one loaf of bread per week over 14 years of price-fixing would have cost Loblaws customers $400 — Loblaws offered a $25 gift card to victims.
Think they’re bargaining in good faith?
The bread price fixing debacle is still before the courts. The $25 gift card was, according to Loblaws, a sign of good faith. There will be other penalties given to Loblaws and other grocery chains. Loblaws was the only one to offer anything when it was revealed. The other grocery chains have been silent. Back to regular programming.
Cashier scheduling is hard. No matter what you do it’s never right. Customers are fickle. They can’t all be there at once.