Loblaws facing backlash for raising payout to shareholders, not reinstating extra pay for frontline employees
Posted November 13, 2020 6:26 am.
Last Updated November 13, 2020 5:27 am.
TORONTO – The country’s biggest grocery store chain is being ripped by workers rights advocates and unions for raising its payout to shareholders in its latest quarterly earnings update — but not re-instating its extra pay for frontline employees.
Loblaws reported a profit that was substantially higher in the latest quarter — nearly $350 million — it saw a jump in sales and raised its dividend payout to shareholders.
The union that represents 7,000 company employees isn’t happy.
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Chris Macdonald, the grocery sector assistant to Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, blasted the company, telling the Toronto Star it’s “despicable with workers not getting the pay increase that was initially put in at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Deena Ladd, director at the Workers Action Centre tells the Toronto Star the decision to reward shareholders is appalling and a slap in the face of essential workers.
A spokesperson for Loblaws said the dividend increase was justified after delaying the payout earlier this year, and the company returning to normal business practice.
The heads of the three major grocery store chains were questioned in Ottawa earlier this fall about the decision to eliminate the so-called hero pay top-up — all on the same day.
