(Toronto) More than 330 Hudson’s Bay Company warehouse workers have gone on strike after talks with the company broke down, the Unifor union said Wednesday.
Posted at 5:02 p.m.
Updated at 5:13 p.m.
Logistics workers walked off the job after HBC refused to offer a pay raise for the past year, the union said.
According to Unifor, employees worked without contracts for more than a year during the pandemic.
Warehouse employees process online orders from across the country from HBC Logistics’ location in Scarborough, Ontario.
Unifor Ontario regional director Naureen Rizvi says workers postponed negotiations when their collective agreement expired last May to help the retailer respond to increased online sales amid coronavirus-related shutdowns. the COVID-19 pandemic.
She says the company is now refusing to pay the workers the wage increases they would then have received.
“Canada’s flagship retailer is cynically exploiting the goodwill of its employees to deceive workers of the wage increase they should have received and would have received,” Ms.me Rizvi in a statement.
Dwayne Gunness, vice-president of Unifor Local 40, said the company received government assistance through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, but is now choosing “to take advantage of the people who have actually worked during the pandemic”.
Hudson’s Bay opened its website to third-party sellers last March as it sought to grow its online sales and position itself as a premium online shopping marketplace in Canada.
In an emailed statement, spokesperson Tiffany Bourre said Hudson’s Bay is engaged in the collective bargaining process and hopes to continue discussions “in good faith.”
“We made fair, reasonable and competitive offers that included significant salary increases for associates,” the statement said.
Mme Bourre added that the company hopes to reach a resolution quickly and noted that “in the meantime, absolutely no disruptions are planned for customer orders.”