They join unionized Safeway workers, 99 per cent of whom voted Tuesday to authorize strike action.
But a grocery store strike is not yet imminent, according to leaders of local 1516 of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
“We’ve got further negotiations scheduled with Safeway beginning on May 1,” said union spokesman Andy Neufeld.
He said the strike votes are “a very clear indicator this contract isn’t working and our members are looking for clear improvements.”
Grocery store workers want higher pay and they’re also pushing for a single contract that would end the lower tier of pay for employees at Overwaitea’s converted PriceSmart outlets.
The top of the pay scale is $17 an hour at PriceSmart versus $22 to $23 at the other stores.
However Neufeld said starting wages at all stores are $8 to $8.75 an hour and two thirds of affected supermarket employees earn between $8 and $12.15 an hour.
“There’s an incorrect popular belief out there that unionized grocery store workers are making somewhere north of $20 an hour,” he said.
The grocery store contracts expired March 29.
“It’s not unusual for negotiations to go on for several months (after expiry),” said Canada Safeway public affairs vice-president David Ryzebol.
He said he remains “very hopeful” a fair agreement can be reached.
“From our point of view negotiations are still in the very early stages.”
Overwaitea Food Group asked the Labour Relations Board to block workers at its converted PriceSmart stores from participating in this week’s strike votes, however the board rejected the application.
Negotiators for the union and Overwaitea resumed bargaining on Friday and were expected to continue through the weekend.
