Member Update: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004

CALGARY — Teamsters Union Local 987 is asking AUPE members and their families to boycott all Co-op stores in Alberta in support of their 300 striking members who work for the retail grocery chain’s partly owned supplier.

AUPE President Dan MacLennan will join the striking employees of Federated Co-operatives Ltd. on two picket lines in Calgary on Sept. 3 in a show of support from Alberta’s largest union.

The federated Co-op employees, who primarily work in two Calgary warehouses, set up picket lines Aug. 13, after voting 98.3 per cent in favour of strike action. Co-op has been using scabs to keep the facilities operating.

Calgary Co-operative Association Ltd., which operates Calgary Co-op retail stores, owns a 12-per-cent interest in federated Co-operatives Ltd.

“We would ask that all AUPE members honour our boycott of Co-op outlets, by spending their money at other grocery stores,” said Pat Pope, Business Representative for Teamsters Local 987. “We also would like to encourage AUPE members to come down and join our pickets.”

A primary issue of contention among the local’s membership, said Pope, is the employer’s plan to use Safeway Canada’s recent settlement as a benchmark for negotiations with its Federated Co-op employees.

In that agreement, Safeway’s Alberta employees received a wage increase of approximately 90 cents an hour over four years.

“Our membership was adamant that we not bring back a long-term contact,” Pope said. “They have given us a mandate to negotiate a contract that contains a maximum length of three years — and that’s only if priorities surrounding benefits were met by the employer.”

Before the expiration of the last collective agreement, Federated Co-op employees contributed approximately 40 per cent to cover their Alberta Health Care premiums with the employer paying the remaining 60 per cent.
However, in its contract Safeway pays 100 per cent of Alberta Health Care premiums for its employees, a benefit Pope says the Federated Co-op employees also deserve.

Since Federated Co-op employees went on strike in mid-August, the employer has threatened to close its hardware building, prompting the Teamsters to demand inclusion of severance language in any new agreement.

“They’re using scabs and huge numbers of replacement drivers, and they’ve tried to strike fear in our members by leveling the threat of closure,” said Clyde McCallum, Business Representative with Teamsters Union Local 987.

“Our members aren’t stupid — they know what the employer is trying to do,” he said. “They remain resolute in their position.”

There are 18 Calgary Co-op retail outlets located in towns and cities south of Red Deer, including Airdrie, Strathmore, Brooks, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Lethbridge and Pincher Creek.