Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members on strike voiced concerns to union management at a virtual town hall Wednesday night, including some saying they were “growing frustrated at the lack of bargaining,” according to a transcript obtained by 680 NewsRadio.
“You guys need to get back to the table,” said one union participant, to which union management replied, “We want to be back at the table. Unfortunately, Doug [Ford] is not ready to offer us a fair deal.”
Several employees asked throughout the meeting when they would get the chance to vote on LCBO management’s last offer.
“When do we, as a whole union, get to vote on the contract? Some of the proposals put forward by the company were not terrible,” said one member. “But OPSEU officials responded by saying that “There is no contract yet to vote on.”
“Ford is lying about the LCBO’s offer,” one union representative said. “We didn’t walk away from the table — the LCBO told us not to come back unless we were willing to give up on our core demands that included job security and growing the LCBO to meet demand and improve convenience.”
Dropping that plan was a key union demand, but Ford said he was not going to budge on it.
“If they want to negotiate over [ready-to-drink beverages], the deal’s off. I’m going to repeat that: that ship has sailed,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford gestures to a display of alcohol at an announcement saying the province is speeding up the expansion of alcohol sales in Toronto on Friday, May 24, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov.
“How long can we expect not to be working if Doug Ford is not changing his stance on the RTD matter?” asked one union member at the town hall, to which OPSEU management replied, “How long did it take to roll back the Greenbelt?”
Union leadership said they felt Ford’s comments meant union pressure was working.
“He’s never done so much press and so much work to try to divide union members. He’s feeling the pressure.”
Colleen MacLeod, chair of the union’s LCBO bargaining unit, told 680 NewsRadio on Wednesday that they’re willing to discuss it when asked if a deal can be had with RTDs off the table.
Delays to wholesale
The union confirmed during the town hall that its pickets are slowing truck traffic out of LCBO warehouses and depots.
“Union members are holding and delaying trucks in multiple places and slowing down the LCBO’s operations to put pressure on them to come back to the table,” OPSEU said on Wednesday night.
Grocery stores, wine shops, bars, and restaurants are experiencing an irregular supply of alcohol due to OPSEU pickets. LCBO management said Wednesday that “our selection of inventory ebbs and flows as we continue to navigate products in and out of our warehouses.”
When will talks resume?
Throughout the meeting, union leadership expressed willingness to return to the table but said “We have been given no indication that the employer wants to come back to the table and address our core demands in any meaningful way. There was no commitment to job security or the future of the LCBO. The team will return to the table as soon as there is interest in addressing these core issues.”
Earlier on Thursday, the LCBO issued a statement suggesting leaders were confused about OPSEU’s bargaining preferences regarding ready-to-drink beverages after the union claimed that the strike is more about Premier Ford’s plans to expand alcohol sales to convenience and grocery stores rather than wages.
LCBO said officials are ready to talk about job security, wages and benefits.
“If OPSEU is now prepared to agree that ready-to-drink beverages are a matter of public policy and not something that should be discussed as part of bargaining, we strongly encourage them to respond to our July 4 offer,” the statement continues.
“We are at the table, ready for active negotiations to restart today.”
HALIFAX – Ottawa is negotiating a $500-million bailout for Nova Scotia’s privately owned electric utility, saying the money will be used to prevent a big spike in electricity rates.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement today in Halifax, saying Nova Scotia Power Inc. needs the money to cover higher costs resulting from the delayed delivery of electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
Wilkinson says that without the money, the subsidiary of Emera Inc. would have had to increase rates by 19 per cent over “the short term.”
Nova Scotia Power CEO Peter Gregg says the deal, once approved by the province’s energy regulator, will keep rate increases limited “to be around the rate of inflation,” as costs are spread over a number of years.
The utility helped pay for construction of an underwater transmission link between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but the Muskrat Falls project has not been consistent in delivering electricity over the past five years.
Those delays forced Nova Scotia Power to spend more on generating its own electricity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
