Calls for the return of hazard pay are growing as workers on the front lines of Canada’s retail industry grow increasingly anxious amid rising COVID-19 cases.
While some companies offered so-called hero pay to essential workers at the outset of the pandemic, most wage premiums ended as the first wave ebbed.
Yet retail workers say morale is lagging as COVID-19 cases spike across much of the country.
Without a pay bump that recognizes the risk of working during a pandemic, they say workers are increasingly calling in sick — leaving fewer staff to enforce rules around mask-wearing and physical distancing.
Some companies have preemptively addressed the issue.
Lowe’s Canada said this week it plans to pay a discretionary bonus to all eligible Lowe’s, Rona and Reno-Depot workers.
The Boucherville, Que.-based home improvement retailer said full-time staff will receive $300 later this month, with $150 for part-time staff. The October bonus is in addition to bonuses paid in March and August, and $2 per hour wage premium paid from April to July.
The Home Depot Canada said it has implemented paid sick leave benefits and is providing workers with an ongoing weekly bonus — $100 for full-time workers and $50 for part-time workers.
Meanwhile, Chapman’s Ice Cream in Markdale, Ont., recently made its $2 an hour pandemic pay raise permanent.
It’s something unions across the country are calling for, arguing that the pay bump not only recognizes the ongoing threat of COVID-19 but also pays workers a living wage.
Yet retailers have argued that they are now operating safely in a “new normal.”
In a June statement, Loblaw Companies Ltd. chairman Galen Weston called it “the right time to end the temporary pay premium we introduced at the beginning of the pandemic.”
“Things have now stabilized in our supermarkets and drugstores,” he said. “After extending the premium multiple times, we are confident our colleagues are operating safely and effectively in a new normal.”
Many workers and unions disagree.
It’s a debate currently playing out in Newfoundland and Labrador, where 11 Loblaw’s stores under the Dominion banner are shuttered amid an escalating labour dispute.
It’s one of the first collective agreements to be negotiated in Canada since the start of the pandemic, and experts say it could serve as a forerunner for what to expect as other locals go to the bargaining table in the coming months.
Jennifer Green, a front-end cash supervisor at a Dominion in Conception Bay South, said 1,400 grocery store workers have been on strike for more than six weeks in an effort to obtain better wages.
She said without the COVID pay premium, she lives “paycheque to paycheque.”
“A lot of us were really struggling,” Green said. “But when we got the $2 an hour raise, we felt important.”
She said when the pay premium was cancelled, workers felt “sad and upset” and that going into work remained “nerve wracking.”
“It’s been stressful and at times scary,” Green said. “And it’s been really, really busy with online orders and extra cleaning.”
Loblaw did not respond to a request for comment.
‘It felt like a thank you’
Chris MacDonald, a spokesman with Unifor, the union representing Dominion workers, said the COVID pay premium made workers feel respected.
“It felt like a thank you from a retail employer that was more than just an `attaboy’ or a pat on the back,” he said.
“But now with the second wave, workers are scared and worried they’re not going to get the same level of respect.”
Some retail workers have had to deal with aggressive customers, with videos surfacing on social media of shoppers challenging rules around masks and physical distancing.
UFCW Canada spokesman Tim Deelstra said some of the union’s members have been in “disgusting situations.”
“There have been screaming matches,” he said. “Some of our members have been spit on or attacked by members of the public.”
The union is calling for a pay bump to recognize the ongoing efforts and risks taken by front-line workers.
Amanda Nagy, assistant bakery manager at a Fortinos Supermarket in Hamilton — also a Loblaw franchise — said she’s worked throughout the pandemic but is now growing increasingly nervous.
“It’s really overwhelming when we see the number of cases rising every day,” she said. “Then we have anti-maskers come in or people who claim they have a pre-existing condition and don’t wear masks — it’s just a scary environment to be in.”
Nagy said at the outset of the first wave, many people were calling in sick. She said that changed when the pay premium was introduced.
“It’s just good for the morale to feel appreciated,” she said. “Otherwise we’re basically risking out lives at a job where we can barely make ends meet.”
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
