TORONTO

Court restricts union pickets at Metro warehouses, grocer says deliveries to resume

Story by The Canadian Press •


Court restricts union pickets at Metro warehouses, grocer says deliveries to resume© Provided by The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Metro has been granted a temporary injunction to restrict pickets by striking workers at distribution warehouses in Toronto, the latest development in a month-long standoff between the grocer and thousands of workers represented by Unifor.

Deliveries will resume and stores will be resupplied as soon as possible, the Montreal-based grocer said in a statement.

"Metro remains committed to the bargaining process and wants to present its offer; it urges the union to go back to the table [to]resolve this matter," said spokeswoman Marie-Claude Bacon.

Metro announced it was seeking an injunction against Unifor and the workers on Friday, the third day of picketing at its distribution warehouses that prevented deliveries of fresh products, namely produce, meat and dairy, to its stores provincewide.

More than 3,700 workers at 27 Metro stores in the Greater Toronto Area have been on strike since July 29 after rejecting their first tentative agreement.

The order, effective immediately, restricts picketers from unlawfully blocking or delaying access to multiple Metro distribution centres and corporate offices, but allows them to delay delivery vehicles for up to five minutes.

It expires at midnight on Friday, Sept. 1. The restricted locations also include a Food Basics store located at the grocer's corporate offices on Dundas St. W.

Temporary injunctions are intended to set rules in place ahead of a final decision on whether the law has been violated, which can take some time, David Doorey, an associate professor of labour and employment law at York University, said in an email.

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Metro would need to request another injunction if the picketers resume the restrained activities after the order expires, said Doorey.

The workers will continue to picket lawfully as permitted by the order, said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a statement.

"We look forward to an agreement with Metro that ends the strike and provides decent work and pay for frontline grocery workers," she said.

Unifor has said it's waiting for a better wage offer from Metro before it returns to the table.

“If there is one group of workers who deserve respect, decent pay and decent work, it is grocery store workers in this country,” Payne told reporters at a secondary picket line last Wednesday.

The union is hopeful the grocer will come back with an offer "that addresses the significant affordability challenges facing its frontline workers," said Payne.

The striking workers have been calling for the return of their pandemic 'hero pay' of $2 an hour.

Metro last week said it filed an unfair labour practice complaint against Unifor, arguing it wasn't negotiating in good faith by not returning to the bargaining table.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023.

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Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press