Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
The failure of Canada's grocers to reinstate "hero pay" for employees amid an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases is "about greed, period," the head of the country's largest private-sector union said Friday.
Unifor national president Jerry Dias said while front-line supermarket workers are facing the biggest risks, executives are receiving the biggest rewards.
Top grocery bosses have cashed multi-million dollar bonuses as sales and profits soar during the pandemic -- even as they refuse to bring back pay bumps for employees, he said.
"Employees on the front line are at risk every day and yet it's the executives being rewarded handsomely," Dias said. "They're making record profits but don't have the decency to pay their employees what they're worth."
His comments come after the federal NDP critic for economic development, MP Brian Masse, sent a letter to the heads of Canada's biggest supermarkets this week saying workers are doing risky work and again deserve a wage premium to keep stores open and shelves stocked.
Three grocery chains -- Loblaws, Metro and Sobeys -- ushered in a $2-an-hour pay bump in the early days of the pandemic. It was cancelled after the first wave subsided.
While each chain has sporadically reintroduced either wage bonuses or other incentives, it appears none have offered workers pay premiums as a result of the Omicron surge.
Loblaw did not respond to multiple requests for comment, while Metro declined to comment.
However, Sobeys shared a letter CEO Michael Medline sent in response to Masse's concerns.
"We are the only retailer in Canada who publicly committed to reinstating our Hero Pay/Lockdown Bonus program when regions or provinces go back into lockdowns that close all non-essential retail," he said.
Sobeys has distributed over $110 million in "hero pay" and bonuses to its front-line team members since the beginning of the pandemic, Medline said.
Sobeys spokeswoman Jacquelin Weatherbee added in an email that the company is closely watching the constantly changing restrictions.
If government-mandated lockdowns once again close all non-essential retail, the grocer will reinstate its lockdown bonus, she said.
Yet Dias said the risk of catching COVID-19 has never been greater for retail workers as infections surge across the country.
"Pandemic pay was a recognition that front-line workers are at an increased risk from the coronavirus," he said. "That danger is still there."
Dalhousie University professor of food distribution and policy Sylvain Charlebois said other parts of the food industry, including processing and distribution, have seen wages increase permanently during the pandemic.
"Employees in stores also deserve higher wages," Charlebois said. "It's time to look at wages seriously."
Other retailers, such as Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. and The Home Depot Canada, replaced temporary pandemic bonuses with permanent wage increases.
However, part of the issue in food retail is that it's a "high volume, low margin environment," Charlebois said.
"If grocery chains raised wages by $2 an hour across the board, most of the stores in their networks would likely run at a loss," he said. "That's the reality of grocery shopping."
Meanwhile, increasing automation could reduce the number of workers companies need to run a grocery store, but those people could be better paid, Charlebois said.
"Knowing the financial realities of running a grocery store, you can't afford to keep the same amount of people (and increase both automation and wages across the board)," he said.
But Dias said employees deserve a living wage.
"You can always find justification not to do the right thing," he said. "The bottom line is those on the front lines deserve to have decent hours and to make a decent living wage."
UFCW Canada, which also represents grocery retail workers in Canada, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2022.
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and five other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
A Calgary elementary school principal has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities announced Monday.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Toronto police say 12 people are facing a combined 102 charges in connection with an investigation into a major credit fraud scheme.
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.
The clock is ticking ahead of the deadline to file a 2023 income tax return. A personal finance expert explains why you should get them done -- even if you owe more than you can pay.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.