VANCOUVER — Safeway union organizers are decrying stalled labour negotiations and the company’s decision to close 10 of its locations across Metro Vancouver.

The outcry comes four years after Sobeys purchased the western Canadian grocery store chain, and about a month after the union appealed to the B.C. Ministry of Labour for help negotiating a new collective agreement.

Kim Novak, secretary treasurer of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union, Local 1518, said relations between workers and upper management have soured since Sobeys took over in 2014.

The staff are “bringing forward ideas to their managers on how things can be improved (in the store) and they don’t see those changes happening and they don’t understand why,” she said. “Many of them have been in the industry for decades and understand how the grocery industry works, and we want the employer to be listening to their ideas.”

According to the union, Sobeys has mismanaged Safeway stores, leading to a loss of profits.

The company announced back in January that it would close 10 locations across Metro Vancouver this summer, which the union said will cost about 1,000 jobs. However, according to the union, it later backtracked and said it would only close five permanently and consider reopening the others under a different name.

Sobeys did not reply to interview requests before publication.

Tuesday was International Workers’ Day and the non-profit Vancouver and District Labour Council (VDLC) organized a rally at Jack Poole Plaza downtown, followed by a rally outside a Safeway store near Vancouver City Hall.

Stephen von Sychowski, VDLC president said his organization planned the Safeway rally in conjunction with UFCW 1518 as part of a campaign to save the locations.

In February, the union made a complaint to the Labour Relations Board saying Sobeys had started an illegal lockout. According to the union, this came after the company “abruptly cancelled” union negotiation meetings in January, and days later told the union it will shutter 10 stores this summer.

In March the union appealed to the provincial government for help after labour negotiations had stalled again. Novak told StarMetro that in response, B.C. Minister of Labour Harry Bains has appointed Vince Ready, a professional labour arbitrator, to resolve the dispute between Safeway and its workers.

Speaking to StarMetro at the early afternoon rally downtown, von Sychowski said Sobeys’ plan to close the 10 Safeway locations and reopen some of them under a different name spells trouble for unionized workers.

“The plan to replace many of them with FreshCo stores, a discount brand grocery store, which comes with a much inferior collective agreement to what the Safeway workers currently enjoy is being viewed as an illegal lockout and attempt to force workers’ wages and pay down.”

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