Windsor rallies with Zellers workers to Ask Target for Fairness

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Workers, union activists and community members showed their support for Zellers staff at the Devonshire Mall Saturday, May 5, at the Support Zellers Workers Rally in Windsor, Ontario. The event received significant media attention, drawing over a hundred people who demanded fairness for the Zellers workers who will be losing their jobs once their stores are converted to Targets.

Protests, testimonies and a luncheon BBQ defined the day, as workers and community members came together in an effort to protect the rights and hard-earned working conditions of their neighbours at Zellers.  

It was recently announced that the Zellers located in the Devonshire Mall will be converting to a Target as early as next spring, a renovation that is expected to take six to nine months. This store’s conversion is one of the first among 24 Zellers stores in Ontario that will be converted to Targets.

Many consumers are excited about Target coming to Canadian soil, but for more than 10,000 Zellers workers the arrival of the American-based retailer means being “re-hired” for the same job, in the same industry, at starting conditions.

Zellers workers in Windsor and in a number of cities across Canada are working with the country’s leading retail workers’ union, UFCW Canada, and other community supporters to encourage as many Canadians as possible to join the movement to Ask Target for Fairness.

Having successfully negotiated previous contracts for two out of the three Zellers locations in Windsor, many of the Zellers workers who took a leading role in organizing the rally are proud UFCW Canada members from the city’s Tecumseh Mall and Ambassador Plaza locations.

“This rally really showed the Zellers workers at the Devonshire Mall that there is strength in numbers and that they have the full support of their neighbours, communities and fellow retail workers,” says UFCW Canada national representative Kevin Shimmin, who participated in the community demonstration.

To find out more about the Ask Target for Fairness campaign, and how you can make a difference, visit www.targetfairness.ca.