Metro grocery store workers picket at distribution warehouses as strike continues

The union representing thousands of Greater Toronto Area Metro grocery store workers says its members have created a secondary picket lines at two distribution warehouses.

According to Unifor, the secondary picket lines began at 6 a.m. Wednesday with one at a distribution warehouse on Dundas Street in Etobicoke. The warehouses distribute meat, produce and other products to GTA Metro stores.

More than 3,700 frontline Metro grocery workers have been on strike for almost one month at 27 stores across the GTA.

The workers have been on strike since July 29 after the workers rejected a tentative agreement last month.

“Enough is enough,” said Lana Payne, Unifor’s National President, on Wednesday surrounded by striking workers. “No more are these workers or any workers willing to put up with record profits, record CEO pay and crap wages for them. That time is over.”

“No more crumbs, justice instead,” Payne chanted along with the workers picketing outside the distribution centre.

Unifor has said that Metro employees are asking for a fair share of the company’s profits, which rose in its latest quarter. Since the strike began, many workers have been saying they want to see their pandemic “hero pay” of $2 an hour be reinstated.

Metro has voiced disappointment with the job action, while Unifor says frontline grocery workers need Metro to come back to the table with an improved wage offer that addresses the significant affordability challenges they face.

In a statement emailed to Global News on Wednesday, Marie-Claude Bacon, vice president of public affairs and communication for Metro, said the union is “picketing the Toronto distribution centres that are supplying all of its Metro and Food Basics stores in the province, they are currently preventing all deliveries of fresh products to our stores which is unacceptable.”

“The distribution centres and the impacted stores are not on strike and their operations, which are critical, should not be interfered with,” the statement read.

Bacon said “no solution” has “ever emerged from such pressure tactics.”

“Rather than picketing sites that are not on strike, the union should come back to the bargaining table, which Metro has been requesting since August 12,” the email read. “Metro will not be able to present an offer and resolve the labour conflict if the union refuses to bargain.”

Earlier in August, amid the strike by its workers, Metro reported massive profits in its third quarter.

“We deserve good pay, we deserve decent work,” said Payne. “We still have people going to work not making a livable wage. And it’s not like they can’t afford to pay a livable wage … We have members who can’t afford to shop in their own stores in which they work in.”

Here is the list of Metro grocery stores across the GTA where workers are on strike:

Brampton

• 180 Sandalwood Pky, Brampton, Ont L6Z 1Y4

Brantord

• 371 St. Paul Ave, Brantford, Ont N3L 5P9

Etobicoke

• 1500 Royal York Rd N, Etobicoke, Ont M9P 3B6
• 201 Lloyd Manor, Islington, Ont M9B 6H6

Milton

• 1050 Kennedy Circle, Milton, Ont L9T 0J9

Mississauga

• 2225 Erin Mills Pky, Mississauga, Ont L5K IT8
• 6677 Meadowvale Cir, Mississauga, Ont LSN 2R5

Newmarket

• 1111 Davis Dr, Newmarket, Ont L3Y 2R9
• 16640 Yonge St # 11, Newmarket, Ont L3Y 4V8

North York

• 3090 Bathurst St, North York, Ont M6A 2A5
• 20 Church Ave, Willowdale, Ont M2N 0B7
• 291 York Mills Rd, Willowdale, Ont M2L 1L3

Scarborough

• 40 Eglinton Sq, Scarborough, Ont MIL 2KI
• 2900 Warden Ave, Scarborough, Ont MIW 2588
• 3221 Eglinton Ave E, Scarborough, Ont M1J 2H7

Toronto

Oakville

• 1521 Rebecca St, Oakville, Ont L6L 1Z8

Orangeville

• 150 First St, Orangeville, Ont LOW 3T7

— With files from The Canadian Press