Safeway and FreshCo Pharmacy Workers Ratify Historic New Agreement – UFCW 1518

New Westminster, B.C. – October 23, 2023– Workers at Safeway and FreshCo Pharmacy in British Columbia have voted in favour of a historic new contract. This new contract will add over 300 full-time jobs, bring needed benefit improvements, and create the highest wage increases at the Sobeys-owned stores in 25 years.

The agreement came together after 98% of Sobeys members voted in September to authorize a strike. The company initially offered wage increases as low as less than 1%.

“Workers at Safeway and FreshCo Pharmacy stood up together and demanded better from their employer by delivering a 98% strike vote,” said UFCW 1518 President Kim Novak. “This agreement is significant not only because it provides the highest wage increases in decades; it offers workers a pathway to more full-time work, a much-improved wage scale, and more flexibility in their schedules.”

The new contract came into effect on Sunday, October 22.

To read more about this incredible collective bargaining victory, click here.

UFCW Local 1518 represents more than 26,000 members working in the community health, hospitality, retail, grocery, industrial, and professional sectors across British Columbia. To read more about UFCW 1518 and its outstanding work, visit the Local Union’s website.

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