Press Conference – Striking Workers at Pete’s Frootique

We recently held a press conference alongside SEIU Local 2 workers on strike at Pete’s Frootique. It is disheartening to see that the employer has only offered a nickel raise above the minimum wage, which insults the hardworking employees at Pete’s Frootique and all Nova Scotia workers struggling to make ends meet. This becomes all the more frustrating when considering the enormous profits and executive compensation enjoyed by Sobeys, the parent company. Sobeys CEO Michael Medline received a staggering $8.6 million in compensation last year, while his workers are being offered a mere 5-cent raise. This lack of fairness and logic is genuinely concerning.

We have called on the employer to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a satisfactory agreement with its workers. The Trade Union movement stands in solidarity with these workers and will not allow them to be pushed into submission by a corporate giant.

If the strike continues beyond next week (December 15), we are prepared to take the following steps:

1. We will initiate discussions with our unions regarding the Lawton Drugs loyalty card, offered through the Atlantic Healthcare Coalition Society, and ask them to consider the possibility of doing business elsewhere.

2. We will actively support the striking workers by urging our affiliates to participate in the SEIU’s National Day of Action on Saturday, December 16. Information pickets will be organized in various cities across Canada, including Halifax, Digby, and Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, as well as Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, St. Catharines, London in Ontario, and Vancouver, Victoria, and Abbotsford in British Columbia.

More details about these actions will be on the workers’ campaign website in the coming days.