Northern Light
Superstar
It is.........and Empire is consistent that when the close an existing store/banner, to open a new one, they will not allow cross-banner transfers of staff. Not at existing or at lower wages.
Example, to my understanding, where Empire is closing Sobey's Queensway, none of the staff are being transferred to the new Longos.
This, of course, saves money since no one keeps the hourly pay or the vacation entitlements earned with experience.
Metro is not the world's best employer, but I'll give them this, they do maintain a higher proportion of full-time staff with more experience, who are better paid.
But all the Canadian majors are really degrees of terrible in labour practice.
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Now, the mice issue is not merely one of labour. Remember, btw, that Metro in the St. Lawrence area had a shutdown too.
The truth is, we've had an epidemic of mice/rats in the last few years, the condo boom, plus projects like Ontario Line and Crosstown have disturbed many a nest and displaced them by the thousands.
Add to that, grocers face unique challenges in condo settings in terms of pest control. If pests infest the parking garage, but the garage isn't under the control of the grocer........its a real problem.
The retail lessor/manager and/or the Condo Board have to do their share. Its near impossible to keep a store pristine when you have an infestation elsewhere in the same building.
Not the same degree of issue for freestanding locations, where the grocer has full control.
