Grocery executives may be called to testify on pay cuts for workers
Source: The Globe and Mail
June 15 2020 - An MP from the governing Liberal Party is proposing a parliamentary committee summon major Canadian grocery company executives to explain why they’re cutting COVID-19 pay premiums for workers.
Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has put forward a motion at the House of Commons standing committee on industry, to be voted on Thursday.
Both Conservative and NDP members have said they will back his motion, which means its passage is likely assured and the executives will be asked to testify.
Mr. Erskine-Smith is calling for representatives from Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Co. Ltd. to appear and “explain their decisions to cancel, on the same day, the modest increase in wages for front-line grocery store workers during the pandemic." In many if not all cases, the pay premium was $2 an hour. Empire owns the Sobeys chain.
“The pandemic isn’t over. We’ve been given reason in this pandemic to reconsider how we compensate essential workers and whether we compensate them enough and now we see how easy it is for these big and profitable companies to quickly turn back to the status quo," the Toronto MP for Beaches-East York said Monday.