Warehouse workers at SAQ 86% on Monday rejected the tentative agreement reached last week.
• Read also: Empty shelves and delay delivery to SAQ
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800 or so union workers gathered at a general meeting on Monday to present the agreement, the terms of which are not disclosed at the moment, before it was rejected.
We had an agreement, but the members rejected it. Tomorrow morning, we will meet with the union’s executive committee to determine our next actions. “Obviously we will also be contacting the employer,” said Michael Gratton, union counsel at the Canadian Federation of Public Employees, in a brief statement.
It was not immediately clear whether the union workers intended to resume pressure tactics, including their strike.
For its part, the division indicated that it intends to discuss with union representatives in the coming days to understand the reasons for rejecting the agreement. “We want to get back to the negotiating table as quickly as possible,” The Crown confirmed at the end of the evening.
In the meantime, SAQ ensures it is focused on reconfiguring its branches.
“Over the next few weeks, our teams will spare no effort to return to normal throughout our network, particularly at the dawn of the holiday season,” we said.
Warehouse employees demand better wages, they think they are paid less than their colleagues who work in SAQ branches.
The union had announced on Monday, November 29, that it had reached at midnight with the division an agreement in principle to prevent the resumption of the strike in the state-owned company’s warehouses.
Previously, workers had organized a surprise strike day in mid-November, before calling an indefinite general strike on November 22, which was quickly suspended the next day to “give the talks one last chance”.
These strikes, although short, had repercussions by delaying delivery to SAQ branches, which sometimes had bare shelves, while queues formed in some places. Deliveries were also disrupted at restaurants, bars, grocery stores and convenience stores.