Hudson's Bay workers in Kamloops, B.C., walk off the job
CBC
Workers at the Hudson's Bay store at Aberdeen Mall in Kamloops, B.C., have walked off the job after their union and the company were unable to reach a wage agreement.
United Steelworkers union Local 1-417, which represents the workers, says talks have been ongoing since July without success.
It says it met with Hudson's Bay and a mediator at the B.C. Labour Relations Board on Tuesday but could not reach an agreement, adding that the company didn't budge on its proposal of a one-per-cent wage increase for each year of the contract.
The union says it issued a 72-hour strike notice to the company on Wednesday and the job action officially began at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, affecting around 50 workers.
The union is encouraging the public to avoid shopping at the store until the labour dispute is resolved. A sign on the door said the store was temporarily closed Sunday.
Jordan Lawrence, USW Local 1-417 financial secretary, said the job action comes at the busiest holiday time for the business and aims to "send a message loud and clear that this is unacceptable."
"Our members will not put up with these bullying tactics from the company any longer," he said.
"We encourage customers to shop at the mall but respectfully ask that they honour our legal picket line and find their gifts elsewhere."
The picket lines will only be set up outside the Hudson's Bay entrances at the mall, Lawrence added.
In an interview with CBC News, Lawrence said the store's workers unionized in 1993 after a nine-month strike.
"We want these workers to go back to work. We want people to be able to get their gifts at the Bay," he said. "But these workers are more important right now."
While Lawrence said he could not get into specifics on the bargaining language being used by the company, he said Hudson's Bay was attempting to roll back gains that had been made in previous collective agreements.
Angie Bains, who has worked at Hudson's Bay for 42 years — including four at the Kamloops location — says that workers do not like to be out in the cold on picket lines, but the rising cost of living forced their hand.
"We just want to be treated fairly and equitably," she told CBC News. "What the company is offering simply is not enough."
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.