This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
In the midst of a campaign to organize the mainly immigrant workforce of Adonis grocery stores, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 500 (UFCW 500), denounce anti-union practices of the banner. Behind the scenes of a campaign that reveals the challenges associated with organizing a growing number of immigrant workers in the province.
In 2019, Nil Ataogul started the organizing campaign with Adonis Markets with great enthusiasm. Like so many of her colleagues, this has been her grocery store since she arrived in Quebec from Turkey in 1989.
Adonis markets specialize in the distribution and sale of food from the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. Founded in Montreal by brothers of Lebanese origin, the company was purchased by the Metro group between 2011 and 2017. Since its acquisition, the Adonis Group has expanded and now has 17 stores, mainly located in Quebec.
Despite the success of the Adonis markets, the working conditions of the employees remain below those within the other banners of the Metro Group, according to Nil Ataogul. She says that from the union representative’s point of view, the widening gap is linked to the composition of the workers at Adonis, who are mostly first and second generation immigrants.
“We consider that there is a link between the fact that they are workers of immigrant origin and the evolution of their working conditions, believes Mr.me Ataogul. The fact that they are non-unionized completely changes the situation. »
“In places where there are a large number of workers with an immigrant background and where I take steps to unionize, the attitude and the treatment are different,” says the woman who has fifteen years of experience in union circles and who has been organizing coordinator in Quebec for UFCW 500 since 2019. With more than 45,000 members in Quebec, the latter is the largest food and commerce union in the province.
“Of course there may be employers who are more refractory and who put a spoke in the wheel,” adds Roxane Larouche, national representative and head of communications for the TUAC union. The particularity here is that the employer relies on the vulnerability [des travailleurs]their sense of community and the fact that they feel highly indebted, that they feel like betraying [en se syndiquant]. »
A laborious campaign
Adonis employees wishing to improve their working conditions had contacted the union, but feared reprisals if they spoke out, said Nil Ataogul. “The level of fear was enormous,” she said. In the summer of 2019, we went to all the stores at the same time to distribute flyers. The employer’s reaction was to forbid people to go out during their break so that they could not talk to us outside. Some have called us to give us information, but these people have had their hours adjusted. And then they started putting pressure on them. »
Started at top speed, the campaign to unionize the Adonis markets has remained laborious. Since 2021, the UFCW union has been certified to represent employees at the Dollard-des-Ormeaux store. Having failed to agree on the signing of a first collective agreement, the two parties will go to arbitration to continue negotiations. The union is also continuing its campaign in other establishments, such as that of Anjou.
On October 28, the Administrative Labor Tribunal ordered the Adonis Group not to hinder the activities of the UFCW union which is seeking to set up there, not to denigrate it and not to use intimidation by gathering in outside the store when union representatives are there. According to the provisional evidence, an employee who signed a union membership card then came out of the store to tear it up, after claiming to do what his boss had asked him to do. In an interim order, Judge Jacques David recalls that it is up to the employee to decide whether or not to join a union.
A lack of recognition
By entering an Adonis, it is immediately possible to see the difference with other food markets such as Metro, IGA or Super C, explains Nil Ataogul. In order to serve a clientele mainly from the Mediterranean basin, Adonis offers a multitude of counter services with specialized personnel, such as butchers or fishmongers who must know the specific needs of the clientele. “Adonis is really a top-of-the-range service compared to what exists,” comments Roxane Larouche. And yet, the work that people do is simplified in the eyes of the owner, adds Nil Ataoglu. According to the latter, it would be an argument of the owner in order to refuse to adjust the conditions to the level of those of Metro Plus.
Finally, the campaign must adapt to the dynamics specific to a group of workers with an immigrant background, continues Nil Ataogul. “With her, there is a kind of feeling of betrayal that is conveyed. [En adhérant à un syndicat]it’s like betraying your community and it’s used a lot [par le patronat] “, she observes. She explains that several employees have worked at Adonis for decades, sometimes since they arrived in the country, which creates a very strong sense of belonging to the banner.
“Given all the pitfalls, the preconceived ideas, the barriers that they have to break down to get to a unionization process, the workers have to show enormous courage,” underlines Roxane Larouche. “There is a vulnerability of employees, adds Nil Ataogul for his part. This makes it all the more necessary for an organization like ours to be there to defend them, demand their due and obtain the recognition they deserve. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.