Negotiations between UFCW Local 247 members employed at Real Canadian Superstores and Loblaw continued on November 29-December 1^st with the non-monetary portion of the talks coming to an end….for now.

"We resolved a number of proposals from both sides over the session and although there are still outstanding issues, we feel it best to move onto the monetary discussions as that will ultimately give us an idea if a settlement can be reached", said Local 247 President Dan Goodman. “There are some topics we just weren’t able to resolve but it makes no sense to just keep beating our heads against a wall, for either side. We need to move on and get to the number one topic, the wage scales, increases, and other monetary-related issues”, commented Secretary-Treasurer Charles Pratt; adding "Members want to see progress and movement and we have January 11-14 now blocked off to continue to talk."

On a number of occasions, we have mentioned the scheduling changes the Company was proposing and because they impacted so many other areas of the collective agreement, those discussions became more and more complex. Even now the parties have agreed that some proposals, while not carrying a cost, could be impacted by any changes made to the wage scales and therefore should be set aside until we are further along in the monetary talks.

"We’ve said it all along, the money will decide the day. Members have been clear that they need to see improvements and it’s time for the Company to step up or we will have some tough decisions to make.” said Goodman.

The Distribution Centres' committee also bargained with the company this week. "Talks were slow and steady; we are confident we'll resolve all non-monetary issues and move on to monetary ones on the next session" commented Director of Bargaining, Dean Patriquin.