Laval, Que. – January 18, 2016 – United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 501 is proud to announce that Brault & Martineau employees at the furniture and appliance chain’s Laval location have joined our great union. In a ruling that was recently handed down by Quebec’s Commission des relations du travail (‘‘labour relations board’’), UFCW Canada Local 501 has now been certified to represent all 60 and some sales advisers as well as clerical workers in this store.

The new members joined the leading union for retail workers in Canada, in order to improve their working conditions and to protect and improve their wages in the face of technological change.

One such factor was the introduction of online sales, which the employer recently implemented unilaterally, which could negatively impact the future job security of clerical and dales employees alike. Sales staff are paid on a commission basis only, but the sales staff receives no commission from online sales, even if they personally serviced a customer in the store who later decided to make the purchase through the store’s new online service. Sales staff are also not paid for their time to service customers who come looking for more information about products that they purchased online from the merchant.

Furthermore, for many years, the employer has reduced profit margins through discount pricing, which in turn has caused sales advisers’ annual commissions to decline, even though they were selling more units than previous years.

‘‘UFCW Local 501 enthusiastically welcomes the new members at Brault & Martineauinto our great union. By doing so, they are paving the way for those of their co-workers from other Brault & Martineau stores who also want to have a stronger voice at work,” says UFCW Local 501 President Alain Lachaîne. “This puts them in the strongest a position to secure their working conditions, and negotiate gains with their employer.”