Calgarians could find fewer of their favourite products on shelves at Sobeys and Safeway stores this week, after workers at the Balzac distribution centre were served a lockout notice on Sept. 15.

That notice is set to lock distribution workers from Teamsters Local Union 987 starting at 3 p.m., on Thursday, Sept. 18.

The lockout followed last-minute negotiations between Sobeys and the union on Monday, which saw the Teamsters deliver three pre-ratified proposals from members to the grocery firm.

Brock Penner, Business Agent, Teamsters Local Union 987, said that to protect members, the union, in turn, gave strike notice to Sobeys.

“We had to in order to protect our members and make sure that everything stays intact, at least their abilities to protect their jobs,” he said.

“We had to react, and we had to issue them a strike notice in order to protect our members benefits, health benefits that the local would be paying for. Strike pay, all of that will be covered by the local, but would only be covered if we issue a strike notice.”

Sobeys, in a statement sent to LWC, said that they were still hopeful for an agreement with the union.

“Issuing a lockout notice is not a step we take lightly, and we remain hopeful we can get back to discussions soon to reach a resolution. This facility is an automated warehouse, and we do not anticipate significant operational disruptions and plan to continue serving our stores and customers through this disruption,” read the statement.

“Unfortunately, teammates voted against the agreement which was fully recommended by the union. We respect the bargaining process and have made every effort to reach a mutually beneficial competitive agreement.”

Penner said they provided Sobeys with three pre-ratified options that would have added $1 more to hourly wages over a four or five-year period over the previously presented options from the grocery firm that were voted down by local members.

“My numbers running, it would have been a cost to the employer over that term would have been roughly about a million dollars to the employer,” he said.

“So, when you’re talking about Sobeys and their profit margins and everything that they’re pulling in a million dollars for a company that has made record profits over the last number of years, it’s a drop in the bucket, and chose to lock the employee zone instead.”

EBITDA for Empire, which fully owns Sobeys, was $2.38 billion in 2024.

Non-wage asks rejected for workers

Penner said that other asks by the union, such as jackets for workers that had to enter coolers, were outright rejected by Sobeys negotiators.

“The employer has said, when we presented those options, that they are not interested in negotiating anything that would be of an increase to the contract whatsoever. So, if it was jackets, if it was anything around closing any of that, that’s a cost to the employer, and they’re not willing to negotiate any of that,” he said.

“The contract that they proposed to the employees already, they will discuss that. They will allow us to move things around, but they will not accept a single increase to it.”

Penner said that striking was not the outcome that workers had hoped for.

“The biggest message that I can say to the average Calgarian and to just the consumer, those that live and work in the community that the workers also work in, is that ‘hey, this is not something that we wanted to have to do,'” he said.

“We don’t want to affect everybody else’s lives, but we would hope that they would support these members.”

He said that the distribution centre workers wanted to continue working through negotiations to find a fair agreement that would benefit both the workers and Sobeys.

“The employer has taken that step where they’re trying to force these employees into accepting something that is less than market standard, when you look at the whole aspect of the agreement. We’re seeing this more and more with more and more corporations,” he said.

“You’re seeing what’s going on with Air Canada. You’re also seeing in the public sector with teachers. All of these contracts are trying to be forced on these workers, as opposed to allowing the workers to actually negotiate something fair.”