Supermarkets vote to strike

If you’re a Safeway or Save-On shopper, you might want to take note of your next closest supermarket.
Workers at Lower Mainland Safeway stores have voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike, while employees at Overwaitea stores, the parent company of Price Smart and Save-on, voted yesterday and today.
Andy Neufeld, spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union local 1518, said contracts for both companies expired on March 29 and negotiations have been underway since January.
The main issues involve the elimination of a two-tiered wage structure.
“Between 60 and 70 per cent of the people who work in (grocery stores) are making between $8 and $12.50 an hour,” he said.
“Those are inadequate wages and people are quitting in droves.”
Stores from Squamish to Hope, and 10,000 workers, would be affected if pickets go up.
-kristen.thompson@metronews.ca