Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

BC’s labour movement backs up support for locked-out Sears workers with $20,000 contribution to strike fund

BC’s unions are contributing $20,000 to locked-out Sears Canada workers today, says B.C. Federation of Labour Jim Sinclair, to underline labour’s determination to help them win a fair collective agreement.

“This contribution is intended to underline our call to consumers to refrain from shopping at Sears until this company negotiates a fair collective agreement with these members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213,” Sinclair said. “Seventy-seven (77) workers who repair appliances for Sears have been locked out since October 1st, ordered to take pay cuts and face concessions on overtime and time off.”

Sinclair and other representatives of the Federation made the contribution during a lunchtime leafleting blitz outside the Vancouver store at Robson and Howe.

Sinclair said Sears, which had profits of $150 million last year, is taking a hard line with its workers that amounts to union-busting.  “This is unacceptable in this province and our boycott indicates labour’s rejection of this approach.”

Sinclair said the $20,000, collected from Federation affiliates in the last week, will help the union support its members during the Christmas season. During the past few days, IBEW has distributed flyers about the boycott to hundreds of thousands of homes in the province.

The labour movement in BC says shoppers have a choice to make during this busy holiday season.

“They’ve told them if they want to come back to work, they have to take less money in real terms than what they had before.” He says the company also took away their right to two days off in a row, and eliminated overtime when it imposed a contract.  “It’s completely unfair, and it’s just a question of deciding if you support these workers and their families, or Sears, which made $150 million last year in Canada.”

Sinclair claims Sears has a notoriously anti-union attitude, and believes the lock-out is an effort to break this union local.
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For more information, please call Geoff Meggs 604 220-3095.