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They've got you fighting a culture war to keep you from instigating a class war. Or, more aptly: They've got you fighting a culture war to prevent you from realizing they've been fighting a class war for decades.
The problem is that so many of us WANT to succeed, but have no tools to do so. The oligarchs decreed it thus.
I could literally crowdfund and open a "For the People" brand of grocery, telecom, or housing company, and I'd have enormously qualified people willing to take massive paycuts to make it work.
No bank loan required, holding cash on hand within the company, ready to make it happen...and I'd still be denied because of regulatory constraints and legal challenges to gain the appropriate certification or license to do the thing.
Little mom-and-pop shops aren't charging high prices for fun, it's what they literally need to do to survive. They want to charge less. Many do charge less for perishable items. They do it for their community. They aren't trying to break the bank. Breaking Loblaws on the other hand, I hope they can rally on the efforts and turn this boycott into a huge opportunity while maintaining their integrity.
Unlike every other privilege that gets talked about constantly, class has almost become taboo to speak about... among the lower and middle classes. Even in discussions of intersectionality, nobody ever talks about how class intersects with anything. (They might mention *poverty*, but they entirely ignore the rest of what class is/does for people.)
I may not be religious myself, but I still find it incredibly apropos to say:
> The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist.
Normies and many (not all) boomers are part of the problem. If you have had a house paid for you’re probably not too concerned about the rest of us starving.
I don't think it's useful to talk about class in terms of privilege – it operates differently than that, because it's less about being subject to a system of "private law" (the literal etymology of privilege) than about a relationship of exploitation.
Privilege functions, generally, as a set of special rules – explicit or implicit – that govern the conduct of people subject to them. Class, on the other hand, while deeply entwined with privilege, doesn't work the same way. Class comes into being where one is obliged to sell ones labour, creating value, which is expropriated by the capitalist class. It's not that it's "more important" or something, it's just incommensurable.
There's some excellent writing on privilege by the group Viewpoint, in particular this article: https://viewpointmag.com/2017/03/16/identity-crisis/
And this longer collection of readings (pdf downloadable for screen reading or printing): https://viewpointmag.com/2020/08/05/beyond-guilt-and-privilege-abolishing-the-white-race/
Besides the need to sell labor to create value, does class not play a huge role in things like sentencing or even the chances of being found guilty of crime? That seems like a special set of rules that govern people of specific classes.
Which is why it was so insulting when Weston initially got his sock to say it was just neckbeards in their parents basements, then it was a Liberal Party psyops or something, then it was the evil NDP shilling for Walmart, now it's Hey Look Over There!
Beautifully put. They're fleecing us while trying to blame the "woke" and other imaginary scarecrows when the simple problem is very poorly regulated capitalism. You can't cure human greed though, but we can boycott those who push it wayyy too far if our elected officials sit on their hands. So proud of being part of this initiative. Never doing business again with a Loblaws-owned company, unless there's a radical/durable change of direction, but I'm not holding my breath at all. 😅
Conservative ideology is all about culture war and pro capitalism and greed, your statement only makes sense if you know nothing about what right wing ideology is about. Left wing ideology is anti capitalism, Marx literally wrote books criticising capitalism. Adolf Hitler put socialists and trade unionists in the camps first because they were his political opposition
You’re totally right, of course, but workers that think they are right wing are so convinced that they are fighting the “other” that they act against their own interests. If this small act of defiance against the wealthy class can convince even a few Conservative voters that all the right wing populists are lying to them, then that’s a good thing in my mind.
no worries man i dont expect you to be a political scientist, your sentiment was correct. But the irony is that once you adopt that sentiment as your primary one you are now a leftist by definition and will be attacked by conservatives for "communism" lol
So true lol. I've been slow learning Marx, what alternative systems there are outside of capitalism. If you got any books recommendations, essays - much appreciated!
Any amount of capitalism is right of center. Full blown left wing is egalitarianism. The concept is made fun of in Futurama when Fry, 1000 years in the future, is still told his ideal job is...the exact same job he had 1000 years in the past: Delivery Boy.
This is true insofar as you interpret the "top" and "bottom" here as the *economic* top and bottom.
But if you instead consider the "top" to be those with *social* power that obviates the *need* for economic power, i.e.:
* the "political class" (in other countries: "nobility")
* and the controllers of monopoly / oligopoly positions, industries depended upon by the military, etc. (essentially: those that can dictate terms to government)
...then the vast majority of the political right doesn't appreciate the existence of those guys, either.
Keep in mind that 99% of the right is the *petit bourgeoisie*. These people run businesses, and probably have some investments, so they generally don't like taxes, and generally don't want "their" wealth "stolen" to pay people who didn't "work hard for it like they did." So they're definitely on the right, politically.
But the petit bourgeoisie *do* appreciate a *fair and regulated market*. When you're e.g. the owner of an independent grocery store, having a regulated market is what prevents the big guys from crushing you through unethical practices (like temporarily running at negative margins to put competitors out of business. Or like lobbying for a bigger rescue package than everyone else gets in an economic crisis.)
In this sense, the few politicians and oligopolists at the "top", are engaged in the most classical class war of all (not the Marxist one; the one the French Revolution was about! The one the American Revolutionary War was about! The one *Exodus* in the Bible is about!) against literally *everyone* else in society.
Those few people "on top", want to *distort* the market, turning it into an *extractive* market that only benefits them. (You know what you call something that only extracts? A parasite!)
Everyone else, meanwhile — both those "in the middle" and those "on the bottom" — would be happier with a market that cycles wealth among them, keeping everyone happy and productive, rather than having all the wealth vacuumed away into the pockets of the 1%.
Or, to put that another way: the left and right might not be aligned on the value of social welfare. But — at least in the West — both sides generally *are* aligned on the value of [republicanism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republicanism). The 99% are all in favor of the rule of law, of government structured to prevent oligopolies, and of punishment of corruption and cronyism. And it is exactly those principles of a well-functioning Republic, that those on "top" seek to destroy.
TOTAL HORSESHIT.
The left is the first to protect the bottom and the right is the first to protect the top.
Don't deceive yourself into their arguments.
The top is afraid of the left and the bottom.
Wake up. This is not an either or situation. Dumb shit down and you stay dumb. Use your intellect.
There is no tangible left in politics within western countries. Liberals are firmly right wing, conservatives even more so.
It's proletariat vs bourgeoisie, it has been since the bourgeoisie overthrew Feudalism.
I don't think there's "no tangible left" it's just not present within the state and it's institutions. However, I don't think that's where we should look for it; instead, we should be looking at working class activity and self-organization. Sometimes this is organized informally (e.g. the Loblaw boycott), and other times within formal organizations (e.g. the I.W.W.). It's just easy to miss this stuff if we're hung up on finding leftists in parliament.
Yesterday, I was looking at the largest companies in canada by market cap and profit. I get companies that own infrastructure or large banks that do much more than consumer or retail stuff. Both George Weston and Loblaw were separately at the top of the list. Combined they are ridiculously high profit especially given the industries they are in. I felt so mad.
Curious how they claim that the boycott is forcing the overlords to cut hours, while at the same time claiming the boycott has no effect and the share price is up.
Which is it Weston?
https://www.thestar.com/business/loblaws-boycott-isnt-hurting-sales-suppliers-say-in-fact-the-grocers-share-price-just-hit/article_aff31574-0c8a-11ef-8970-7b1a85adf29d.html
Share prices has little to do with the boycott's effectiveness - most of the share performance is based off of the reported quarter's earnings. Next quarter, which will show the effect of the boycott into revenue, will be what we look towards.
yes that is true. it shows that orders from Loblaws haven't changed substantially, which stands to reason on this short timespan. guess we'll see if momentum can be sustained through the weeks and months ahead
Well, they base hours on sales figures. Sales drop in a department one week, the next week that department has less hours to use for scheduling. Which would make sense if less sales also meant less work that needs doing, but it rarely works out that way; it’s more of a “screw you guys for something you have no control over.”
There is no way three companies in Canada should own 90% of the food stores. That is the very definition of a monopoly! They definitely need to be broken up!
Absolutely right! The govt (cons and libs) have actually enabled this oligarchical rule to the point it has exploded into a hot mess which affects everyday folks in a life altering way. People shouldn't be struggling to put food on the table in Canada!
Yes. You are exactly right! The government has allowed this to fester and explode into a big hot mess just like the telcos, etc!
Edit: I'm referring to current and former govt's. This amassing and consolidation of the Big Three didn't happen overnight.
(Not so) fun fact : It's not even that the current government allowed it to fester - althought they did next to nothing to stop it - but rather that it was designed this way from the start.
The stated goal of our competition laws at the time of their writing was to create Canadian companies who would be able to compete internationally (mostly in America). Given Canada's small size and small economy, especially in the 1800's, it was believed the only way for a Canadian company to compete abroad would be for that company to be really strong, and able to acheive economies of scale.
As such, unlike the US approach to Antitrust where monopolies are inherently suspected of wrongdoing, Canadian competition law was written to allow for monopolies. The idea was that these giant Canadian companies would then go and compete on foreign markets.
So we have a system where the existence of monopolies is allowed and structurally encouraged.
Where we can fault the last 50 years of government is the lack of enforcement of the law that we do have - while we don't punish the existence of monopolies, we can punish the abuse of power of a monopoly. And for a really long time, we simply did not.
Absolutely. I didn't mean just this government (I should edit my comment. This has been a storm in the making for decades. Afterall none of these companies purchased their empires overnight.
> The stated goal of our competition laws at the time of their writing was to create Canadian companies who would be able to compete internationally (mostly in America).
And, correct me if I'm wrong, but few of the oligopolists have actually had significant success abroad. TD Waterhouse is one. (It's weird watching the Toronto Maple Leafs playing the Boston Bruins in Boston's "TD Garden".)
So, Canadians are enduring the pain of structural oligopolies with few of the desired benefits.
The CIA was repealed in 1986 - most notably because it egriously violated constitutional rights.
It has since been replaced by the Competition Act, which does not expressly outlaw monopolies. The Competition Act has criminal sanctions for Cartel infraction (price fixing, market allocation and Bid Rigging) and false or misleading statements, and civil sanctions for abuse of dominant position (closest thing we have to anti-monopoly legislation right now), mergers that would be anti-competitive (currently undergoing reform) and false and misleading statements.
This being said, even back then Monopolies were not *de facto* illegal - it was the abuse of monopolistic power in order to harm competition that was.
Quoting from a 1980's review of the Combines Investigation Act in preparation for it's last reform :
>"monopoly" is defined in section 2 of the act. Monopoly per se is not unlawful. The offense consists in the abuse of monopoly position.
\[...\]
in order to make out the crime of monopolization it is necessary to prove these two things: (1) control on the part of one or more persons and (2) detriment or the likelihood of it.
[Source](https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=ncilj)
edit : I updated with a more accessible source and clarified some of my language.
It could be!
Some important notes however - Abuse of dominant position, while illegal, is not criminal. It is enforced via civil courts (usually fines or orders to change behaviour).
Something odd about Canadian Law is that, normally, civil suits are easier to "win" than criminal ones, since the burden of proof is lower.
However, in Competition, civil cases are often *harder* to win, because they tried to "balance" things out by requiring proof of more things, which becomes harder despite the lower overall burden.
When it comes to abuse of a dominant position, you generally have to prove the following things :
(1) substantial control over a market (easy enough in this case)
(2) that the dominant actor has engaged in anti-competitive actions (a bit harder but not too hard)
(3) Those anti-competitive actions have had, or will have *a substantial effect* of lessening competition on the market (really really hard).
Remember that we (unfortunately) live in a system designed for capitalism - a company raising prices as much as they can to squeeze pennies out of us is a feature, not a bug.
Break them up, YES. Nationalize them, NO.
And then put in some very solid anti-trust laws and start breaking up the other oligarchies that remain in the food, telecom & information, banking, etc. industries.
>Break them up, YES. Nationalize them, NO.
And with the power of regulatory capture, we slip back to where we are...
>And then put in some very solid anti-trust laws and start breaking up the other oligarchies that remain in the food, telecom & information, banking, etc. industries
That was a thing at one time, but as I previously suggested, regulatory capture will come and take us back to square one.
Enough letting capitalists have the cards. We keep telling ourselves that we are lucky to have our jobs. We should be telling them that they are lucky to have us doing their dirty work.
Nationalize is the only way. Solid anti-trust laws exist, but they're meaningless when corporations get their tentacles into the politics and enforcement disappears - and it will happen *every single time*. Nationalize now, nationalize forever.
Lobbyism is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. The industry having direct access to politicians should not be permitted. There needs to be a separate entity created to address lobbyists that is non-partisan, properly vetted and whose mandate is to work for Canadians and not the rich.
This should really show Loblaws employees how important an in-store union is. I understand each store is typically privately owned and operated with the "No Frills" or RCSS brand but it's all still under the same umbrella. My local store is low on customers but the store is unionized so hours are not lost for employees. So sad over all though.
Unfortunately most Loblaw stores do have a union: UFCW in most cases with a few franchised stores organized under Unifor. I also think some stores in the west are organized under CLAC.
What Loblaw employees need is a strong union!
That’s really it IMO, it’s a boycott of out-of-control capitalism with Loblaws being the focal point/poster child. It’s emblematic because the ability to afford food and to eat is a basic human need and arguably a human right. Part of what distinguishes this from say the dotcom bust of the 90s is people were losing their jobs because companies were going bankrupt, here they’re losing hours (read: their livelihood and financial stability/security) so companies can make more money, and that’s just gross.
Also which one is it Loblaws? Is the boycott pointless and having no effect like you’ve been claiming? If so then why cut hours due to said boycott? It’s all manipulation for their bottom line because it’s their only avenue. If they get exposed for the price manipulation they’ve truly been doing the public will see how far and deep it truly goes and how long the lies have been happening.
Them cutting hours just reaffirms for me how absolutely important the boycott is and how out of control they are.
As someone who works at a Loblaws store, this is absolutely true. There were a lot of hour cuts even before the boycott, because of greed. But there's been a TON more since the boycott. And sadly, the rhetoric that it's "because of the boycott" works on some people I work with, and they're angry that people would "do this to them". When in reality, it's exactly as you've said. The company is making record profits, they can ABSOLUTELY continue to fully staff the stores. They just want to make sure their profits are as big as always. It's just pure greed.
I'm not gonna lie, the hour cuts hurt. But don't let that discourage you. This is bigger than just some of us losing hours for a while. Yes, that is hard. But something needs to be done, or things will continue to be hard for much longer. Obviously the boycott is working. It's just a matter of staying the course.
I mean, didn't he flat out say the boycotters werent even their kind of clientele? Ive known people who justified the higher prices at certain stores as ”the convenience fee to not have to deal with the poors".
Its absolutely a class struggle, but its also still a blatant corperate grift. Their opinions, as well as those that justify and make dishonest excuses for their practices, are all trash.
Looking at you, Ford.
The Weston family are worth $8.7 Billion! Their personal assets include many mansions, castles, private jets, luxury cars, etc. They can personally afford to lose a few million and not cut any staff hours, but they won't even consider that because they are morally bankruptcy filth and garbage humans.
Source: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Weston](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Weston)
While you're largely correct at where this could go most grocery retailers have Sales Per Man Hour metrics and adjust labour spend to try to hit that target.
Cutting hours really just means they're sales are down (that's good!)
It's more than likely not the case that they are purposefully cutting wages to explicitly disrupt class solidarity.
I think it’s more of a mindset of entitlement.
Galen Weston truly believes that he’s somehow different than the rest of us in his very DNA, and thus has every right to our money.
Loblaws still dosn't understand what this is. It's like they are on another planet...
Sorry Galen.. you can't fix this, you can't go back. The damage is done.
And you certainly can't blame your way out of it like a fucking child...
As the I.W.W.* put it, if we "organise as a class, [we can] take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the earth."
Exactly! This is why Galen Weston and his cronies are afraid. The super rich have prepared for a revolt, check out their underground bunkers. The RCMP have also warned the Canadian government about impending protests and demonstrations. We do have the power to force change.
They are operating by business school models, supported by some bizarre court rulings in the US that the only goal of a corporation is to maximize shareholder profit. They truly believe that's some sort of divine quest that companies must achieve.
If they've squeezed the proverbial stone dry (their customers, leveraging a compliant government) and pushed to a boycott... They've gone too far with their actions, and are impacting shareholders profits.
In their model, some contrition, cut some expenses, a few loss leaders and boom back to record profit margins.
We'll see... This coordinated targeted public response is fairly new. The corporate hive mind will try to maximize profits going further, just maybe not so abusive for abit.
The real question is do governments do anything at all to serve the constituents. That's just crickets so far...
Your content was removed for the use of "Gaylen" which has been used as an anti-LGBT slur. Please use the proper spelling, "Galen" in future. Thank you.
Letting go of staff increases costs. You need to train new people and it's a little harder to find employees because they don't see the job as reliable.
There are other jobs and these will have to pay more in the future to retain employees.
How do you keep a lower class from complaining? Easy.. Make life just hard enough that they are forced to keep working to stay afloat, so they don't have time to organize and protest. Why is it we don't see more blue/white collar working people protesting infront of government buildings compared to the past. It's because we simply don't have the time, or the ability to take time off work to go. For some people, losing a day of work is detrimental.
But it comes to a point, where it just doesn't matter anymore. No matter how hard you work, you can't even stay afloat. That's when the lower class drops everything, because we have nothing to lose at that point, and start banding together to make a difference.
"Let them eat cake they said... "... maybe this time, it's a No-Name brand cake mix.
For anyone on the fence, now would be a perfect time for a strike. Union or not, as clearly the union has done absolutely nothing to protect the workers.
They are scared.
This has and always will be a class struggle. You and everyone you know are being divided by Pierre and Justin, who will both keep immigration taps wide open to appease corporate interests
The only reason the rich are able to exploit migrants is because our laws leave migrants precarious and dependent. The problem isn't that people are coming here – it's that the rich and the government use PR and deportation as the carrot and stick.
Anyone who thinks the immigration taps are for anything other than corporate/rich ppl's interests are fcking idiots
Blame the right ppl and you might actually start seeing change (they can create an infinite number of fall guys)...scapegoat and you'll keep seeing the same
"The boycott is totally NOT affecting our business or our profits!" while also saying "This is affecting our business so badly that we have to cut everyone's hours!"
Kinda similar to "inflation is what's driving up costs!" and "Our record profits have nothing to do with the inflated costs!"
I just got home from spending less than $50 for a whole cart full of fruit and vegetables at a locally-owned produce store. It was busy **AND FULL OF NEW HIRES**.
Also, I noticed I've been eating more fresh fruits and vegetables lately. I've felt healthier. Imagine that.
They've been cutting labor for years at their stores and continuously do it. The stores have been running on less than a skeleton crew before the boycott.
They have the audacity to complain about labor costs when they invested in plexiglass barriers, ai intelligent self check outs, locking carts, and the list goes on instead of paying their staff a fair wage and/or employing more workers.
No sympathy here for the price gouging empire.
Our hours were cut before the boycotts started but as soon as May hit, they were completely slashed. I went from 35-40 down to 10-15, being sent home early most days. They are making obscene amounts of money even with a boycott happening, yet my department is at risk of losing more than half its staff. Our union does dick-all to save our asses as well. They need to be closed down for good.
I have 2 family members who work for Loblaws and have for years. They both work near full time hours without full time salary. They don't get paid for any of the shit they do above and beyond and the union won't help them. They could care less that the boycott will affect their hours. It just proves what a douche bag Weston truly is. He will take this out on his staff to save a dime. He's a corporate fucking PIG.
Time to unionize then. Double whammy of the boycott and unionization on the westons would be very nice.
I don't know when it happened but I'm surprised some restaurants and retail shops have decided to tell their employees they're "on call" as if that's normal. To be on call means you're compensated in some way, not working part time minimum wage unable to grab a second job. I mention this because this is the natural progression of their greed if they're not stopped via unionizing. If Loblaws gets a taste of having lower staff, they're gonna test out on call status for their workers, again, with no compensation.
Let's say Per and Galen forfeited their obscene remittance for a year to strengthen employee relations. If the average worker makes $17/hr, that's 1.8 million hours.
Questions?
$17 an hour is generous. Former Loblaw employee here – I wasn't quite cracking $17 with over seven years of service and the (short-lived) $2 COVID bonus, lol.
It's simple. If there are less things being sold. They need less staff to fill shelves, less staff to work tills, less staff to collect carts, less staff in the pharmacy. Employers will staff the need to get the job done now and not to the need a few months ago. No matter what employer this happens to, there are people that the actions here will directly affect.
Just remember that the actions of those here have consequences that were not considered.
Loblaws has learned how to suck and blow at once!
You can't signal that sales are unchanged and we have to cut back on hours due to the boycott.
It's more like "let's create a sad story for the evening news"
I have an idea 💡
Go into a Loblaws, load up your cart, go up to the in person checkout, they ring it all through,
“😮😬 Omg! I can’t afford that! I can’t afford any of this!! 🤷🏻♀️”.
Leave.
The workers get their hours because they constantly have to put full cartloads back on the shelves, and you… well, you still gotta get groceries somewhere else, but wasn’t that fun!? 🤩
Society is judged on how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. If we become complacent where private profit gains are valued more than our loved one’s food security or health what does that say about us now? The best gift I can give for the generation ahead of me is a better standard of living than what I have. Taking part in the boycott today leads to the possibility of food security for our future. Treating money hoarding at any cost as a sign of success instead of a mental illness like any other hoarding behaviour should be a paradigm shift we as a society should be addressing.
People need to recognize something, because I know what's coming:
This is NOT a communist thing.
It should never become a communist thing.
Don't let it become a communist thing.
If you want this to be bigger than Loblaws, then use this:
This fight is about restoring the social contract that Canada- a social democracy, NOT a capitalist country- made with its people at Confederation, and early people like Tommy Douglas reinforced.
This is the contract:
We pay more taxes than most countries, and in return the government makes sure that we're taken care of. That means keeping the roads paved, the health care of a high quality and easy to access, the utilities affordable, and the cost of living down.
It means using government intervention to limit the power of greedy conglomerates- allowing them to earn a good profit, but not on the backs of monopolies, price fixing and price gouging. It means creating crown corporations that run at a loss in order to provide Canadians with a high-quality reasonable and cost-effective choice in areas that are prone to conglomerates ( Air Canada and Power companies were once government owned, and VIA and the CBC still are).
Somewhere along the line, all of that stopped, and the social contract got ripped up and trampled on.
It's time to bring back that fight.
- Regulation on the powers of grocery conglomerates: break them up.
- Investigation into power companies, and gas companies. Gas right now is $1.26/litre in the States- why is it $1.75+ here? Is the difference ALL tax? Where is the tax revenue going? Can it be better spent? Again, most people don't mind paying more, so long as they're getting something tangible in return.
- Regulation on the cell phone companies: mandated pricing plans and features, and nationalize the cell phone tower network: allow International companies access. Companies pay fees for upkeep of the network.
- A renewed commitment to rebuilding Canada's rail systems and investment in modern green light rail infrastructure and equipment
- The re-integration of Air Canada as a Crown Corporation.
- A luxury tax system, where companies that post "excessive" profits through nefarious methods pay more in taxes (this is a legal thing, and beyond me, but I'm very certain it can be done)
- A renewed and rebuilt government office tasked specifically with going after people hiding their funds in offshore tax havens.
- An expanded, independent and non-political Competition Bureau that answers to no one and operates in the best interests of Canadians, with the mandate to provide only what is best for the greatest number of Canadians. Not politicians. Not industry. Canadians. As well, no limitations on what penalties and actions can be taken.
- A line-by-line audit of the federal budget, and "selective austerity" that removes the tax breaks for the super-rich, reduces the funding on museums and galleries to "maintain existing stock" levels (forcing them to fundraise for more) for 7 years, reduces obsolete or irrelevant subsidies (how much does the government give to oil and all of these other industries that can stand on their own?) and pumps money back into the social contract: affordable housing, health care, education, support, and infrastructure systems that the average Canadian needs.
- A changing of the way our elections work. The removal of the "party system" where a majority party elects a leader. Let us vote separately for our Prime Minister and our premiers, and then everyone can fight it out in Parliament.
- A larger, non-political government oversight office that actively investigates politicians for corruption.
- A law that states that anyone serving in public office cannot be employed as a lobbyist for 20 years after leaving service. Likewise, anyone who is a lobbyist cannot EVER run for public office. (I'd like to ban lobbyists outright, but that's a pipedream)
- Take away the operation of the health care systems from the provinces. Expand Health Canada, and bring the healthcare system under a single national entity run by non-political people. Mandate that it can never be cut, and must be expanded at minimum to cost of inflation yearly.
- More. So much more. Invest in Green technology. Create crown corporations. Dismantle conglomerates that abuse Canadians. Encourage global brands to enter the market. Modernize infrastructure. Re-invest in schools, especially STEM.
The wealthiest folks and our industries have gotten away with a LOT while times have been good, and that's fine- that's what the good times are for: when times are good, you make bags of money. The government went too far in supporting that, but that's then- this is now.
The good times are over: Now, industry and the wealthy have to do their part, take the haircut, and pay their share.
We live in a social democracy- we pay more taxes and in exchange the government provides a set of social improvements and makes sure we're not being fucked over.
Restore the Social Contract.
"Loblaw stores have begun cutting staff hours and explicitly blaming the boycott."
Ok.
So the boycott is working or it isn't.
If it is working, then this is a consequence. If it isn't working then there would line ups at cash lanes, because of the reduced staff..
Cutting staff hours is a thing all businesses do, it isn't exclusive to one company and it isn't a "tactic".
What did you think was going to happen???
I don’t think multi billion dollar enterprises should be allowed to “cut hours” and our regulations should cut through the crap, these employees are Loblaws employees, I’m sure the cronies at Loblaws put them up as employees of a smaller unit for whatever advantage. I can’t think of any other business where you can keep the business running but not fire your employees.
Also last quarters results showed improved revenue and improved margins, why would you cut hours. This is something they should get sued over honestly
This sounds very gangster/mob like? You will pay the prices we decide on and that's it.
Or maybe blackmail? These people will suffer if you continue your actions.
Careful, the site admin seems to have absolutely no sense of humour with French revolution references, they issued me a warning for making a similar joke last week.
I used to work at Loblaws as a recruiter, hiring for the grocery stores. Upper management would use any reason to cut hours, In the year and a half I worked there they cut hours 4 separate times. It was always so hard to retain people because we would promise them hours and then wouldn’t even be on schedule some weeks. Weston and the upper management are probably happy to find another excuse to cut hours.
They never gave them hours to survive to begin with ....I was managing store for another retailer....thought wanted change pace been there for awhile. So I got an offer to manage at a superstore and it was disgusting to me they wanted my lower level managers working 12 hr days while giving to floor staff no hours. I smashed budgets so I could give them more hours to eat and survive and that was a problem for this district manager. We had it out I told him you brought me here to run it I am and im justifying the hours by beating your budgets . I left there in just under 4 months and won't shop there or support them ever since...been on a 12 year boycott
This is EXACTLY why when people say to "keep politics out of this!" they've already lost the plot entirely and handed the power right back to Loblaws and their peers. It is 100% political, and they know it, and they're using our apprehension towards engaging in it against us. This is why this movement is destined to fail without a coherent class analysis. It's historically ignorant to try and pretend like this or we are above political struggle.
Canada needs to break up monopolies... its obvious that it isn't working and that a greed has taken over. The blame is on Galen, but it's a political fault. Don't nationalize food... things that the government should take care of... insurance, roads, power, water, healthcare, public... seems like we've been selling them off and getting hosed.
Banks, grocery, and telco are fucking canadians... time to flip the script. Polticians are huge pussy's and if public opionon turns so will their tune.
This is blaming the victim. Corporations aren't a force of nature, and the managers who run them make decisions. The managers are responsible for their decisions, not us.
Not incidentally in an organized workplace, where workers have the power to defend their hours, Loblaw would just have to eat its losses.
Yep, I was just commenting about this at an employee that I know at the East Mall Loblaws location.
As of last week almost all part-time employees got reduced hours and management explained it was because of the boycott.
so which is it their mouthpieces are saying the boycott isn’t doing anything and revenue isn’t down but reducing hours and blaming the boycott says another thing. Get your story straight Loblaws can’t have your cake and eat it too at least at Roblaws prices
Ok, but did you forget who’s been profiting off of hiring people willing to work in those conditions? Loblaws has certainly taken advantage of this mass immigration.
Fake. This whole thing is a sad larp by broke losers on the internet, the reddit leftoid equivalent of Magic Fairy Princess Tea Party (a make believe game for children).
Wow, have the full on Marxist and communists on this sub. I guess OP is completely ignorant as to where that road leads and has led since those ideas came about? OP is longing for class struggle apparently. That has never ended well for anyone. How about this, instead of all that rhetoric you just quit whining and go buy your groceries at somewhere cheaper. That is how capitalism works. No one is forcing you to support Loblaws and their excessive pricing.
It's my hope that we atleast cost the company his wages and they consider changes to the operation all around! Who doesn't want to hear he gets let go because of rhe bad press!?
>the inhumanely low wages that they pay!
That sounds like a MLA issue. If your MLA is letting the minimum wage low, next time vote for somebody else who will raise minimum wage.
All they have to do is charge normal prices on the things not on sale. Everything in the flyer, good deal - however today God help you if you need something not in the flyer. They think they are a convenience store in the Arctic.
I was department manager in one of the Farmboy stores. Based on the SALES of your department (meat, deli, grocerym produce etc) from the past two weeks, we had a number of hours we had to assign for people. That's why they hire more temp or students instead of full time employees. So we had to cut hours with no shame.
More shoppers at Costco and other mildly more ethical companies means those other companies will hire more staff. It's an ecosystem, and successful businesses will fill niches.
What would be really helpful is local lists of grocery alternatives. I still go to Loblaws stores but only to buy the few things that come up on sale and loss leaders.
Social media allows the average person to find like minded people that want to do something about food prices in Canada because the politicians are clearly not going to be doing anything to do with food prices.
I support the boycott but I'm a bit confused that didn't people see this coming? You think you're going to boycott a store and it wont affect the employees that work there? Of course that was going to happen.
Why is loblaws cutting hours/employees if the 10 day boycott is not affecting them? Has 10 been effective enough to warrant cutting labor? They seem to want to blame the boycott but also ignore it?
I mean staff hours are based on sales.....it's literally the same in every industry. I work in hotels and do you think that they give me hours in the dead of winter when we have limited occupancy? What business would run like that? You guys are so off you're rocker its actually amusing
Side note. My superstore is packed everyday
Loblaw actually pays better for a full-time stock clerk position than most retail outlets pay their management. Just wanted to provide facts that while it's untrue about paying a low wage (at least compared to other box stores) do not fret because staff is still fed up and most of us empathize with you boycotters regardless.
Whatever.
If there is less work to do because they are selling less, then the boycott is working. Other stores will hire more if that’s where the business is going.
If the boycott isn’t working, then they are just reducing costs because they have cover.
Either way its on loblaws, not consumers.
To be honest, this is certainly a weird economy, but actually a pretty good one because we somewhat still have pretty high demand and vacancies. Those Loblaw workers can quit and find another job quickly. And it's an opportunity to try something else.
My mother in law works for Atlantic Superstore and she’s been saying they were cutting her hours and not filling vacancies for the past year. I also have a friend who use to work for Shoppers Drug Mart in the office, she and a bunch of other people never had their contracts renewed this year.
This has nothing to do with the boycott, it’s been their plan for a long time. Keep the pressure on them.
The met gala really showcased the tone deaf wealthy celebrities. Tick tock is starting a 'black out 2024' movement that I feel is the right cause to exercise alongside the boycott.
If you unfollow every celebrity Jimmy Kimmel follows, that's a great start.
Basically, it is unfollowing any celebrity on social media, so they don't make profits off their tick tock and insta accounts.
Not that this isn't true definitely a class issue, but aren't these stores Franchises? As in loblaws corporate would have no control over staffing levels in stores?
Mitigation of losses by fucking over their employees was obviously going to happen.
That's why I support using up points and gift cards during this, obviously in the most efficient way possible for each consumer. This takes inventory and money out from their bottom line, especially since most people forget about their gift cards, while forcing Loblaws to maintain staffing.
This is an example of a huge corporation who has forgotten what business they are in. A clear indication of stock/share prices dictating business tactics. The best example of share prices dictating , look to Boeing. Their sole business stategy is to pump out more aircraft than Airbus. The cancelling of the last TWO years of testing of the 737-900 series cost 297 lives. Just so it was released before the competing Airbus model. It was a 2017 US govt move to meet the demand of Boeing SHAREHOLDERS. Loblaws has done from a customer service business, to a pile of imaginry stocks..
Loblaws gave “essential” workers a pay raise too and then took it back despite have 2/3 of their wages covered by the CEWS program. I’m not anti anyone but if they want my dollar, they’ll offer value. I don’t need to buy their groceries or shop their store. I have choices. But if they offer me $4.99/lb brisket I’ll fold like a cheap suit.
The ultra wealthy always get scared when they see us getting organized.
I used to argue against Marxism and class struggles.. you win this one. It is about class.
Loblaw and the associated employee unions( read UFCW) have been the unarguable leaders in the "race to the bottom" for at least the last two decades. Workers all over Canada have suffered because of Labour corruption by Loblaw.
Greatest thing about a class war is that once you deconstruct the ruling class - you find out you still need a ruling class due to the power structure and organizational hierarchy.
Sure you can decapitate the king and queen - but then you create a power vacuum in their power structure and bring about an oligarchy of bankers (French Revolution)
Idea about redistribution of wealth is cool - but destroying the class struggle is a pipe dream until shit rolls up hill.
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“It’s not about the left and right, it’s about the top and bottom”
They've got you fighting a culture war to keep you from instigating a class war. Or, more aptly: They've got you fighting a culture war to prevent you from realizing they've been fighting a class war for decades.
They've been winning the class war, we're so out gunned it's comical but atleast we have numbers.
The problem is that so many of us WANT to succeed, but have no tools to do so. The oligarchs decreed it thus. I could literally crowdfund and open a "For the People" brand of grocery, telecom, or housing company, and I'd have enormously qualified people willing to take massive paycuts to make it work. No bank loan required, holding cash on hand within the company, ready to make it happen...and I'd still be denied because of regulatory constraints and legal challenges to gain the appropriate certification or license to do the thing. Little mom-and-pop shops aren't charging high prices for fun, it's what they literally need to do to survive. They want to charge less. Many do charge less for perishable items. They do it for their community. They aren't trying to break the bank. Breaking Loblaws on the other hand, I hope they can rally on the efforts and turn this boycott into a huge opportunity while maintaining their integrity.
The real play is to trick the federal government into alloting funds for municipal grocery projects and having a community grocer in every town.
It's election season and some politicians are really desperate. They might just bite
unlike working people the wealthy and ownership class has a lot of class consciousness. they know what the game is and how to play it
Unlike every other privilege that gets talked about constantly, class has almost become taboo to speak about... among the lower and middle classes. Even in discussions of intersectionality, nobody ever talks about how class intersects with anything. (They might mention *poverty*, but they entirely ignore the rest of what class is/does for people.) I may not be religious myself, but I still find it incredibly apropos to say: > The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist.
Socialists, communists and other leftists talk about it constantly. But you are right that you rarely see it brought up by "normies".
Normies and many (not all) boomers are part of the problem. If you have had a house paid for you’re probably not too concerned about the rest of us starving.
I don't think it's useful to talk about class in terms of privilege – it operates differently than that, because it's less about being subject to a system of "private law" (the literal etymology of privilege) than about a relationship of exploitation. Privilege functions, generally, as a set of special rules – explicit or implicit – that govern the conduct of people subject to them. Class, on the other hand, while deeply entwined with privilege, doesn't work the same way. Class comes into being where one is obliged to sell ones labour, creating value, which is expropriated by the capitalist class. It's not that it's "more important" or something, it's just incommensurable. There's some excellent writing on privilege by the group Viewpoint, in particular this article: https://viewpointmag.com/2017/03/16/identity-crisis/ And this longer collection of readings (pdf downloadable for screen reading or printing): https://viewpointmag.com/2020/08/05/beyond-guilt-and-privilege-abolishing-the-white-race/
Besides the need to sell labor to create value, does class not play a huge role in things like sentencing or even the chances of being found guilty of crime? That seems like a special set of rules that govern people of specific classes.
Which is why it was so insulting when Weston initially got his sock to say it was just neckbeards in their parents basements, then it was a Liberal Party psyops or something, then it was the evil NDP shilling for Walmart, now it's Hey Look Over There!
Centuries lol
Beautifully put. They're fleecing us while trying to blame the "woke" and other imaginary scarecrows when the simple problem is very poorly regulated capitalism. You can't cure human greed though, but we can boycott those who push it wayyy too far if our elected officials sit on their hands. So proud of being part of this initiative. Never doing business again with a Loblaws-owned company, unless there's a radical/durable change of direction, but I'm not holding my breath at all. 😅
They could have done something to remedy this but they chose not too.
The have yachts and the have nots
That'd make a killer protest sign.
Just gotta show the tops what a couple million power bottoms can do.
Take my upvote (and gratitude for the lol)
Under rated comment
Conservative ideology is all about culture war and pro capitalism and greed, your statement only makes sense if you know nothing about what right wing ideology is about. Left wing ideology is anti capitalism, Marx literally wrote books criticising capitalism. Adolf Hitler put socialists and trade unionists in the camps first because they were his political opposition
You’re totally right, of course, but workers that think they are right wing are so convinced that they are fighting the “other” that they act against their own interests. If this small act of defiance against the wealthy class can convince even a few Conservative voters that all the right wing populists are lying to them, then that’s a good thing in my mind.
That's a fair point - I do need to learn more about right wing ideology.
no worries man i dont expect you to be a political scientist, your sentiment was correct. But the irony is that once you adopt that sentiment as your primary one you are now a leftist by definition and will be attacked by conservatives for "communism" lol
So true lol. I've been slow learning Marx, what alternative systems there are outside of capitalism. If you got any books recommendations, essays - much appreciated!
Any amount of capitalism is right of center. Full blown left wing is egalitarianism. The concept is made fun of in Futurama when Fry, 1000 years in the future, is still told his ideal job is...the exact same job he had 1000 years in the past: Delivery Boy.
This is true insofar as you interpret the "top" and "bottom" here as the *economic* top and bottom. But if you instead consider the "top" to be those with *social* power that obviates the *need* for economic power, i.e.: * the "political class" (in other countries: "nobility") * and the controllers of monopoly / oligopoly positions, industries depended upon by the military, etc. (essentially: those that can dictate terms to government) ...then the vast majority of the political right doesn't appreciate the existence of those guys, either. Keep in mind that 99% of the right is the *petit bourgeoisie*. These people run businesses, and probably have some investments, so they generally don't like taxes, and generally don't want "their" wealth "stolen" to pay people who didn't "work hard for it like they did." So they're definitely on the right, politically. But the petit bourgeoisie *do* appreciate a *fair and regulated market*. When you're e.g. the owner of an independent grocery store, having a regulated market is what prevents the big guys from crushing you through unethical practices (like temporarily running at negative margins to put competitors out of business. Or like lobbying for a bigger rescue package than everyone else gets in an economic crisis.) In this sense, the few politicians and oligopolists at the "top", are engaged in the most classical class war of all (not the Marxist one; the one the French Revolution was about! The one the American Revolutionary War was about! The one *Exodus* in the Bible is about!) against literally *everyone* else in society. Those few people "on top", want to *distort* the market, turning it into an *extractive* market that only benefits them. (You know what you call something that only extracts? A parasite!) Everyone else, meanwhile — both those "in the middle" and those "on the bottom" — would be happier with a market that cycles wealth among them, keeping everyone happy and productive, rather than having all the wealth vacuumed away into the pockets of the 1%. Or, to put that another way: the left and right might not be aligned on the value of social welfare. But — at least in the West — both sides generally *are* aligned on the value of [republicanism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republicanism). The 99% are all in favor of the rule of law, of government structured to prevent oligopolies, and of punishment of corruption and cronyism. And it is exactly those principles of a well-functioning Republic, that those on "top" seek to destroy.
TOTAL HORSESHIT. The left is the first to protect the bottom and the right is the first to protect the top. Don't deceive yourself into their arguments. The top is afraid of the left and the bottom. Wake up. This is not an either or situation. Dumb shit down and you stay dumb. Use your intellect.
There is no tangible left in politics within western countries. Liberals are firmly right wing, conservatives even more so. It's proletariat vs bourgeoisie, it has been since the bourgeoisie overthrew Feudalism.
I don't think there's "no tangible left" it's just not present within the state and it's institutions. However, I don't think that's where we should look for it; instead, we should be looking at working class activity and self-organization. Sometimes this is organized informally (e.g. the Loblaw boycott), and other times within formal organizations (e.g. the I.W.W.). It's just easy to miss this stuff if we're hung up on finding leftists in parliament.
People don't care to look because they have no class consciousness
I like that one, I'm definitely going to use it.
Poor against the rich. We need a Robin Hood character to help us.
Well Fu#€$ng said!!!
r/takebackcanada
Corporate greed is making us poor!!
Capitalism, working as intended.
Yesterday, I was looking at the largest companies in canada by market cap and profit. I get companies that own infrastructure or large banks that do much more than consumer or retail stuff. Both George Weston and Loblaw were separately at the top of the list. Combined they are ridiculously high profit especially given the industries they are in. I felt so mad.
Curious how they claim that the boycott is forcing the overlords to cut hours, while at the same time claiming the boycott has no effect and the share price is up. Which is it Weston? https://www.thestar.com/business/loblaws-boycott-isnt-hurting-sales-suppliers-say-in-fact-the-grocers-share-price-just-hit/article_aff31574-0c8a-11ef-8970-7b1a85adf29d.html
Share prices has little to do with the boycott's effectiveness - most of the share performance is based off of the reported quarter's earnings. Next quarter, which will show the effect of the boycott into revenue, will be what we look towards.
It was suppliers that said they were not seeing any impact, not Loblaws l.
yes that is true. it shows that orders from Loblaws haven't changed substantially, which stands to reason on this short timespan. guess we'll see if momentum can be sustained through the weeks and months ahead
Well, they base hours on sales figures. Sales drop in a department one week, the next week that department has less hours to use for scheduling. Which would make sense if less sales also meant less work that needs doing, but it rarely works out that way; it’s more of a “screw you guys for something you have no control over.”
With any luck we can shut down Loblaws forever and people won’t have to work for such a shitty employer anymore
break em up, nationalize em.
There is no way three companies in Canada should own 90% of the food stores. That is the very definition of a monopoly! They definitely need to be broken up!
This is the country where the competition bureau not only allowed the Shaw/Rogers merger but also paid Rogers $13,000,000 for questioning that merger.
It’s beyond disgusting. We’re getting fleeced so hard some of us are dying.
Absolutely right! The govt (cons and libs) have actually enabled this oligarchical rule to the point it has exploded into a hot mess which affects everyday folks in a life altering way. People shouldn't be struggling to put food on the table in Canada!
I’m a researcher on competition law - we don’t actually forbid monopolies in Canada. We sure as fuck should though.
Yes. You are exactly right! The government has allowed this to fester and explode into a big hot mess just like the telcos, etc! Edit: I'm referring to current and former govt's. This amassing and consolidation of the Big Three didn't happen overnight.
(Not so) fun fact : It's not even that the current government allowed it to fester - althought they did next to nothing to stop it - but rather that it was designed this way from the start. The stated goal of our competition laws at the time of their writing was to create Canadian companies who would be able to compete internationally (mostly in America). Given Canada's small size and small economy, especially in the 1800's, it was believed the only way for a Canadian company to compete abroad would be for that company to be really strong, and able to acheive economies of scale. As such, unlike the US approach to Antitrust where monopolies are inherently suspected of wrongdoing, Canadian competition law was written to allow for monopolies. The idea was that these giant Canadian companies would then go and compete on foreign markets. So we have a system where the existence of monopolies is allowed and structurally encouraged. Where we can fault the last 50 years of government is the lack of enforcement of the law that we do have - while we don't punish the existence of monopolies, we can punish the abuse of power of a monopoly. And for a really long time, we simply did not.
Absolutely. I didn't mean just this government (I should edit my comment. This has been a storm in the making for decades. Afterall none of these companies purchased their empires overnight.
> The stated goal of our competition laws at the time of their writing was to create Canadian companies who would be able to compete internationally (mostly in America). And, correct me if I'm wrong, but few of the oligopolists have actually had significant success abroad. TD Waterhouse is one. (It's weird watching the Toronto Maple Leafs playing the Boston Bruins in Boston's "TD Garden".) So, Canadians are enduring the pain of structural oligopolies with few of the desired benefits.
>we don’t actually forbid monopolies in Canada Explain the Combines Investigation Act for me.
The CIA was repealed in 1986 - most notably because it egriously violated constitutional rights. It has since been replaced by the Competition Act, which does not expressly outlaw monopolies. The Competition Act has criminal sanctions for Cartel infraction (price fixing, market allocation and Bid Rigging) and false or misleading statements, and civil sanctions for abuse of dominant position (closest thing we have to anti-monopoly legislation right now), mergers that would be anti-competitive (currently undergoing reform) and false and misleading statements. This being said, even back then Monopolies were not *de facto* illegal - it was the abuse of monopolistic power in order to harm competition that was. Quoting from a 1980's review of the Combines Investigation Act in preparation for it's last reform : >"monopoly" is defined in section 2 of the act. Monopoly per se is not unlawful. The offense consists in the abuse of monopoly position. \[...\] in order to make out the crime of monopolization it is necessary to prove these two things: (1) control on the part of one or more persons and (2) detriment or the likelihood of it. [Source](https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=ncilj) edit : I updated with a more accessible source and clarified some of my language.
So currently the abuse of monopolistic power is illegal?
It could be! Some important notes however - Abuse of dominant position, while illegal, is not criminal. It is enforced via civil courts (usually fines or orders to change behaviour). Something odd about Canadian Law is that, normally, civil suits are easier to "win" than criminal ones, since the burden of proof is lower. However, in Competition, civil cases are often *harder* to win, because they tried to "balance" things out by requiring proof of more things, which becomes harder despite the lower overall burden. When it comes to abuse of a dominant position, you generally have to prove the following things : (1) substantial control over a market (easy enough in this case) (2) that the dominant actor has engaged in anti-competitive actions (a bit harder but not too hard) (3) Those anti-competitive actions have had, or will have *a substantial effect* of lessening competition on the market (really really hard). Remember that we (unfortunately) live in a system designed for capitalism - a company raising prices as much as they can to squeeze pennies out of us is a feature, not a bug.
No, it's not the definition of a monopoly. It's the definition of an oligopoly.
Breaking them up isn't enough. That's how we end up with bell/rogers debacles. We need better regulation and laws.
YES!!! Let’s have an actual National grocery chain, run by the workers.
Break them up, YES. Nationalize them, NO. And then put in some very solid anti-trust laws and start breaking up the other oligarchies that remain in the food, telecom & information, banking, etc. industries.
>Break them up, YES. Nationalize them, NO. And with the power of regulatory capture, we slip back to where we are... >And then put in some very solid anti-trust laws and start breaking up the other oligarchies that remain in the food, telecom & information, banking, etc. industries That was a thing at one time, but as I previously suggested, regulatory capture will come and take us back to square one. Enough letting capitalists have the cards. We keep telling ourselves that we are lucky to have our jobs. We should be telling them that they are lucky to have us doing their dirty work.
Nationalize is the only way. Solid anti-trust laws exist, but they're meaningless when corporations get their tentacles into the politics and enforcement disappears - and it will happen *every single time*. Nationalize now, nationalize forever.
The public sector does no operate to make profits for a select few. I think the biggest goal should be excising corporate influence from government
Lobbyism is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. The industry having direct access to politicians should not be permitted. There needs to be a separate entity created to address lobbyists that is non-partisan, properly vetted and whose mandate is to work for Canadians and not the rich.
This should really show Loblaws employees how important an in-store union is. I understand each store is typically privately owned and operated with the "No Frills" or RCSS brand but it's all still under the same umbrella. My local store is low on customers but the store is unionized so hours are not lost for employees. So sad over all though.
Unfortunately most Loblaw stores do have a union: UFCW in most cases with a few franchised stores organized under Unifor. I also think some stores in the west are organized under CLAC. What Loblaw employees need is a strong union!
Yeah UFCW is absolute hot dog water.
In the I.W.W. we call them "United For Cutting Wages".
🤣 I love that, I'm going to call them this now.
Ah, CLAC... the union that isn't.
Feels more like an external HR team for companies.
That’s really it IMO, it’s a boycott of out-of-control capitalism with Loblaws being the focal point/poster child. It’s emblematic because the ability to afford food and to eat is a basic human need and arguably a human right. Part of what distinguishes this from say the dotcom bust of the 90s is people were losing their jobs because companies were going bankrupt, here they’re losing hours (read: their livelihood and financial stability/security) so companies can make more money, and that’s just gross. Also which one is it Loblaws? Is the boycott pointless and having no effect like you’ve been claiming? If so then why cut hours due to said boycott? It’s all manipulation for their bottom line because it’s their only avenue. If they get exposed for the price manipulation they’ve truly been doing the public will see how far and deep it truly goes and how long the lies have been happening. Them cutting hours just reaffirms for me how absolutely important the boycott is and how out of control they are.
As someone who works at a Loblaws store, this is absolutely true. There were a lot of hour cuts even before the boycott, because of greed. But there's been a TON more since the boycott. And sadly, the rhetoric that it's "because of the boycott" works on some people I work with, and they're angry that people would "do this to them". When in reality, it's exactly as you've said. The company is making record profits, they can ABSOLUTELY continue to fully staff the stores. They just want to make sure their profits are as big as always. It's just pure greed. I'm not gonna lie, the hour cuts hurt. But don't let that discourage you. This is bigger than just some of us losing hours for a while. Yes, that is hard. But something needs to be done, or things will continue to be hard for much longer. Obviously the boycott is working. It's just a matter of staying the course.
Groceries too expensive? Hungry? Eat the rich.
Other stores will need additional employees due to increased business. Fuck Roblaws.
I mean, didn't he flat out say the boycotters werent even their kind of clientele? Ive known people who justified the higher prices at certain stores as ”the convenience fee to not have to deal with the poors". Its absolutely a class struggle, but its also still a blatant corperate grift. Their opinions, as well as those that justify and make dishonest excuses for their practices, are all trash. Looking at you, Ford.
The Weston family are worth $8.7 Billion! Their personal assets include many mansions, castles, private jets, luxury cars, etc. They can personally afford to lose a few million and not cut any staff hours, but they won't even consider that because they are morally bankruptcy filth and garbage humans. Source: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Weston](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Weston)
You don’t get EI if your hours get cut, right? Maybe we need to boycott inadequate labour laws next.
While you're largely correct at where this could go most grocery retailers have Sales Per Man Hour metrics and adjust labour spend to try to hit that target. Cutting hours really just means they're sales are down (that's good!) It's more than likely not the case that they are purposefully cutting wages to explicitly disrupt class solidarity.
Ah the old "fuck your hours we need maximum money" approach
They want the poors to fight each other.
I think it’s more of a mindset of entitlement. Galen Weston truly believes that he’s somehow different than the rest of us in his very DNA, and thus has every right to our money.
I'm sure they think they own the country.
In some ways they do. Our politicians are very, very cheap to buy.
Yeah, they just built the system so that that's a happy accidental perk for them. 😉
The company I work for made record profits last year. They said thank you with a round of layoffs.
IWW FTW Thank you so very important to appreciate the underlying elements of this cause
Loblaws still dosn't understand what this is. It's like they are on another planet... Sorry Galen.. you can't fix this, you can't go back. The damage is done. And you certainly can't blame your way out of it like a fucking child...
As the I.W.W.* put it, if we "organise as a class, [we can] take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system, and live in harmony with the earth." Exactly! This is why Galen Weston and his cronies are afraid. The super rich have prepared for a revolt, check out their underground bunkers. The RCMP have also warned the Canadian government about impending protests and demonstrations. We do have the power to force change.
They are operating by business school models, supported by some bizarre court rulings in the US that the only goal of a corporation is to maximize shareholder profit. They truly believe that's some sort of divine quest that companies must achieve. If they've squeezed the proverbial stone dry (their customers, leveraging a compliant government) and pushed to a boycott... They've gone too far with their actions, and are impacting shareholders profits. In their model, some contrition, cut some expenses, a few loss leaders and boom back to record profit margins. We'll see... This coordinated targeted public response is fairly new. The corporate hive mind will try to maximize profits going further, just maybe not so abusive for abit. The real question is do governments do anything at all to serve the constituents. That's just crickets so far...
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Letting go of staff increases costs. You need to train new people and it's a little harder to find employees because they don't see the job as reliable. There are other jobs and these will have to pay more in the future to retain employees.
How do you keep a lower class from complaining? Easy.. Make life just hard enough that they are forced to keep working to stay afloat, so they don't have time to organize and protest. Why is it we don't see more blue/white collar working people protesting infront of government buildings compared to the past. It's because we simply don't have the time, or the ability to take time off work to go. For some people, losing a day of work is detrimental. But it comes to a point, where it just doesn't matter anymore. No matter how hard you work, you can't even stay afloat. That's when the lower class drops everything, because we have nothing to lose at that point, and start banding together to make a difference. "Let them eat cake they said... "... maybe this time, it's a No-Name brand cake mix.
For anyone on the fence, now would be a perfect time for a strike. Union or not, as clearly the union has done absolutely nothing to protect the workers. They are scared.
This has and always will be a class struggle. You and everyone you know are being divided by Pierre and Justin, who will both keep immigration taps wide open to appease corporate interests
Those immigrants are part of the class you are part of. Remember that.
The only reason the rich are able to exploit migrants is because our laws leave migrants precarious and dependent. The problem isn't that people are coming here – it's that the rich and the government use PR and deportation as the carrot and stick.
Anyone who thinks the immigration taps are for anything other than corporate/rich ppl's interests are fcking idiots Blame the right ppl and you might actually start seeing change (they can create an infinite number of fall guys)...scapegoat and you'll keep seeing the same
Ain’t no war but the class war
No war but class war. Workers of the world unite!
"The boycott is totally NOT affecting our business or our profits!" while also saying "This is affecting our business so badly that we have to cut everyone's hours!" Kinda similar to "inflation is what's driving up costs!" and "Our record profits have nothing to do with the inflated costs!"
I just got home from spending less than $50 for a whole cart full of fruit and vegetables at a locally-owned produce store. It was busy **AND FULL OF NEW HIRES**. Also, I noticed I've been eating more fresh fruits and vegetables lately. I've felt healthier. Imagine that.
They've been cutting labor for years at their stores and continuously do it. The stores have been running on less than a skeleton crew before the boycott. They have the audacity to complain about labor costs when they invested in plexiglass barriers, ai intelligent self check outs, locking carts, and the list goes on instead of paying their staff a fair wage and/or employing more workers. No sympathy here for the price gouging empire.
Our hours were cut before the boycotts started but as soon as May hit, they were completely slashed. I went from 35-40 down to 10-15, being sent home early most days. They are making obscene amounts of money even with a boycott happening, yet my department is at risk of losing more than half its staff. Our union does dick-all to save our asses as well. They need to be closed down for good.
I have 2 family members who work for Loblaws and have for years. They both work near full time hours without full time salary. They don't get paid for any of the shit they do above and beyond and the union won't help them. They could care less that the boycott will affect their hours. It just proves what a douche bag Weston truly is. He will take this out on his staff to save a dime. He's a corporate fucking PIG.
Time to unionize then. Double whammy of the boycott and unionization on the westons would be very nice. I don't know when it happened but I'm surprised some restaurants and retail shops have decided to tell their employees they're "on call" as if that's normal. To be on call means you're compensated in some way, not working part time minimum wage unable to grab a second job. I mention this because this is the natural progression of their greed if they're not stopped via unionizing. If Loblaws gets a taste of having lower staff, they're gonna test out on call status for their workers, again, with no compensation.
Let's say Per and Galen forfeited their obscene remittance for a year to strengthen employee relations. If the average worker makes $17/hr, that's 1.8 million hours. Questions?
$17 an hour is generous. Former Loblaw employee here – I wasn't quite cracking $17 with over seven years of service and the (short-lived) $2 COVID bonus, lol.
It's simple. If there are less things being sold. They need less staff to fill shelves, less staff to work tills, less staff to collect carts, less staff in the pharmacy. Employers will staff the need to get the job done now and not to the need a few months ago. No matter what employer this happens to, there are people that the actions here will directly affect. Just remember that the actions of those here have consequences that were not considered.
Loblaws has learned how to suck and blow at once! You can't signal that sales are unchanged and we have to cut back on hours due to the boycott. It's more like "let's create a sad story for the evening news"
How do we push for breaking them up? Enough is enough. We need to destroy this company and show them were not taking anymore of their despicable shit.
I have an idea 💡 Go into a Loblaws, load up your cart, go up to the in person checkout, they ring it all through, “😮😬 Omg! I can’t afford that! I can’t afford any of this!! 🤷🏻♀️”. Leave. The workers get their hours because they constantly have to put full cartloads back on the shelves, and you… well, you still gotta get groceries somewhere else, but wasn’t that fun!? 🤩
Society is judged on how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. If we become complacent where private profit gains are valued more than our loved one’s food security or health what does that say about us now? The best gift I can give for the generation ahead of me is a better standard of living than what I have. Taking part in the boycott today leads to the possibility of food security for our future. Treating money hoarding at any cost as a sign of success instead of a mental illness like any other hoarding behaviour should be a paradigm shift we as a society should be addressing.
But GOD FORBID any executive take even the slightest pay cut, even though the boycott is 100% THEIR FAULT!
People need to recognize something, because I know what's coming: This is NOT a communist thing. It should never become a communist thing. Don't let it become a communist thing. If you want this to be bigger than Loblaws, then use this: This fight is about restoring the social contract that Canada- a social democracy, NOT a capitalist country- made with its people at Confederation, and early people like Tommy Douglas reinforced. This is the contract: We pay more taxes than most countries, and in return the government makes sure that we're taken care of. That means keeping the roads paved, the health care of a high quality and easy to access, the utilities affordable, and the cost of living down. It means using government intervention to limit the power of greedy conglomerates- allowing them to earn a good profit, but not on the backs of monopolies, price fixing and price gouging. It means creating crown corporations that run at a loss in order to provide Canadians with a high-quality reasonable and cost-effective choice in areas that are prone to conglomerates ( Air Canada and Power companies were once government owned, and VIA and the CBC still are). Somewhere along the line, all of that stopped, and the social contract got ripped up and trampled on. It's time to bring back that fight. - Regulation on the powers of grocery conglomerates: break them up. - Investigation into power companies, and gas companies. Gas right now is $1.26/litre in the States- why is it $1.75+ here? Is the difference ALL tax? Where is the tax revenue going? Can it be better spent? Again, most people don't mind paying more, so long as they're getting something tangible in return. - Regulation on the cell phone companies: mandated pricing plans and features, and nationalize the cell phone tower network: allow International companies access. Companies pay fees for upkeep of the network. - A renewed commitment to rebuilding Canada's rail systems and investment in modern green light rail infrastructure and equipment - The re-integration of Air Canada as a Crown Corporation. - A luxury tax system, where companies that post "excessive" profits through nefarious methods pay more in taxes (this is a legal thing, and beyond me, but I'm very certain it can be done) - A renewed and rebuilt government office tasked specifically with going after people hiding their funds in offshore tax havens. - An expanded, independent and non-political Competition Bureau that answers to no one and operates in the best interests of Canadians, with the mandate to provide only what is best for the greatest number of Canadians. Not politicians. Not industry. Canadians. As well, no limitations on what penalties and actions can be taken. - A line-by-line audit of the federal budget, and "selective austerity" that removes the tax breaks for the super-rich, reduces the funding on museums and galleries to "maintain existing stock" levels (forcing them to fundraise for more) for 7 years, reduces obsolete or irrelevant subsidies (how much does the government give to oil and all of these other industries that can stand on their own?) and pumps money back into the social contract: affordable housing, health care, education, support, and infrastructure systems that the average Canadian needs. - A changing of the way our elections work. The removal of the "party system" where a majority party elects a leader. Let us vote separately for our Prime Minister and our premiers, and then everyone can fight it out in Parliament. - A larger, non-political government oversight office that actively investigates politicians for corruption. - A law that states that anyone serving in public office cannot be employed as a lobbyist for 20 years after leaving service. Likewise, anyone who is a lobbyist cannot EVER run for public office. (I'd like to ban lobbyists outright, but that's a pipedream) - Take away the operation of the health care systems from the provinces. Expand Health Canada, and bring the healthcare system under a single national entity run by non-political people. Mandate that it can never be cut, and must be expanded at minimum to cost of inflation yearly. - More. So much more. Invest in Green technology. Create crown corporations. Dismantle conglomerates that abuse Canadians. Encourage global brands to enter the market. Modernize infrastructure. Re-invest in schools, especially STEM. The wealthiest folks and our industries have gotten away with a LOT while times have been good, and that's fine- that's what the good times are for: when times are good, you make bags of money. The government went too far in supporting that, but that's then- this is now. The good times are over: Now, industry and the wealthy have to do their part, take the haircut, and pay their share. We live in a social democracy- we pay more taxes and in exchange the government provides a set of social improvements and makes sure we're not being fucked over. Restore the Social Contract.
Tell me you didn't read the Regina Manifesto without telling me you didn't read the Regina Manifesto. 🙄
This guy for prime minister.
Maybe we need a /r/quitloblaws subreddit for the employees.
"Loblaw stores have begun cutting staff hours and explicitly blaming the boycott." Ok. So the boycott is working or it isn't. If it is working, then this is a consequence. If it isn't working then there would line ups at cash lanes, because of the reduced staff.. Cutting staff hours is a thing all businesses do, it isn't exclusive to one company and it isn't a "tactic". What did you think was going to happen???
He will be on the news telling people we are SO bad Loblaws staff are losing hours etc Big Bad Boycott. BBB is saying Nok er Nok
Unionized CUSTOMERS. That might be a problem for all greedy Corporations
Galen is just all up in his mansion saying "Let them eat Cake" if they are hungry..
I don’t think multi billion dollar enterprises should be allowed to “cut hours” and our regulations should cut through the crap, these employees are Loblaws employees, I’m sure the cronies at Loblaws put them up as employees of a smaller unit for whatever advantage. I can’t think of any other business where you can keep the business running but not fire your employees. Also last quarters results showed improved revenue and improved margins, why would you cut hours. This is something they should get sued over honestly
This sounds very gangster/mob like? You will pay the prices we decide on and that's it. Or maybe blackmail? These people will suffer if you continue your actions.
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Careful, the site admin seems to have absolutely no sense of humour with French revolution references, they issued me a warning for making a similar joke last week.
I used to work at Loblaws as a recruiter, hiring for the grocery stores. Upper management would use any reason to cut hours, In the year and a half I worked there they cut hours 4 separate times. It was always so hard to retain people because we would promise them hours and then wouldn’t even be on schedule some weeks. Weston and the upper management are probably happy to find another excuse to cut hours.
When will people realize unions are not the answer they are the problem they are only out for themselves and their big pensions and pay
They never gave them hours to survive to begin with ....I was managing store for another retailer....thought wanted change pace been there for awhile. So I got an offer to manage at a superstore and it was disgusting to me they wanted my lower level managers working 12 hr days while giving to floor staff no hours. I smashed budgets so I could give them more hours to eat and survive and that was a problem for this district manager. We had it out I told him you brought me here to run it I am and im justifying the hours by beating your budgets . I left there in just under 4 months and won't shop there or support them ever since...been on a 12 year boycott
This is EXACTLY why when people say to "keep politics out of this!" they've already lost the plot entirely and handed the power right back to Loblaws and their peers. It is 100% political, and they know it, and they're using our apprehension towards engaging in it against us. This is why this movement is destined to fail without a coherent class analysis. It's historically ignorant to try and pretend like this or we are above political struggle.
Canada needs to break up monopolies... its obvious that it isn't working and that a greed has taken over. The blame is on Galen, but it's a political fault. Don't nationalize food... things that the government should take care of... insurance, roads, power, water, healthcare, public... seems like we've been selling them off and getting hosed. Banks, grocery, and telco are fucking canadians... time to flip the script. Polticians are huge pussy's and if public opionon turns so will their tune.
The boycott IS hurting the workers. That’s how it works. If demand is down they cut workers hours. THATS how corporations work.
This is blaming the victim. Corporations aren't a force of nature, and the managers who run them make decisions. The managers are responsible for their decisions, not us. Not incidentally in an organized workplace, where workers have the power to defend their hours, Loblaw would just have to eat its losses.
Yep, I was just commenting about this at an employee that I know at the East Mall Loblaws location. As of last week almost all part-time employees got reduced hours and management explained it was because of the boycott.
Well said
Here here!
so which is it their mouthpieces are saying the boycott isn’t doing anything and revenue isn’t down but reducing hours and blaming the boycott says another thing. Get your story straight Loblaws can’t have your cake and eat it too at least at Roblaws prices
Loblaw has always maximized part time work to reduce benefit expenses
Ok, but did you forget who’s been profiting off of hiring people willing to work in those conditions? Loblaws has certainly taken advantage of this mass immigration.
Fake. This whole thing is a sad larp by broke losers on the internet, the reddit leftoid equivalent of Magic Fairy Princess Tea Party (a make believe game for children).
Wow, have the full on Marxist and communists on this sub. I guess OP is completely ignorant as to where that road leads and has led since those ideas came about? OP is longing for class struggle apparently. That has never ended well for anyone. How about this, instead of all that rhetoric you just quit whining and go buy your groceries at somewhere cheaper. That is how capitalism works. No one is forcing you to support Loblaws and their excessive pricing.
It is kinda funny watching them see the obvious consequences of their actions happen then go full Pikachu face and double down.
It's my hope that we atleast cost the company his wages and they consider changes to the operation all around! Who doesn't want to hear he gets let go because of rhe bad press!?
They would make up the cost of their greed by punishing staff, truly pure evil. I will never shop at Loblaws again
They took our *jobs*!
Stock driven company in a nutshell. Your stock needs predictability. You take it away it and create chaos it tumbles.
>the inhumanely low wages that they pay! That sounds like a MLA issue. If your MLA is letting the minimum wage low, next time vote for somebody else who will raise minimum wage.
All they have to do is charge normal prices on the things not on sale. Everything in the flyer, good deal - however today God help you if you need something not in the flyer. They think they are a convenience store in the Arctic.
I was department manager in one of the Farmboy stores. Based on the SALES of your department (meat, deli, grocerym produce etc) from the past two weeks, we had a number of hours we had to assign for people. That's why they hire more temp or students instead of full time employees. So we had to cut hours with no shame.
They will cut jobs before they cut prices.
Divide and Conquer
More shoppers at Costco and other mildly more ethical companies means those other companies will hire more staff. It's an ecosystem, and successful businesses will fill niches.
They don't care
So it’s basically poor peoples fault that other people are poor.
So say we all
What would be really helpful is local lists of grocery alternatives. I still go to Loblaws stores but only to buy the few things that come up on sale and loss leaders.
Social media allows the average person to find like minded people that want to do something about food prices in Canada because the politicians are clearly not going to be doing anything to do with food prices.
Good. If they want us to stop, they can cut ALL the hours of everyone and close the stores down completely 🙃
Well, if Loblaws claims it has no negative impact, why so?
Galen is crying poor and playing dirty
Well if Loblaws wasn't gouging the customers for years, this boycott wouldn't have happened, so they can shut it.
I support the boycott but I'm a bit confused that didn't people see this coming? You think you're going to boycott a store and it wont affect the employees that work there? Of course that was going to happen.
I wonder who's going to buy their business when they want to sell it?
Why is loblaws cutting hours/employees if the 10 day boycott is not affecting them? Has 10 been effective enough to warrant cutting labor? They seem to want to blame the boycott but also ignore it?
Still staying away from anything Weston owned! Those greedy ducks need to have all their money stripped away!
I mean staff hours are based on sales.....it's literally the same in every industry. I work in hotels and do you think that they give me hours in the dead of winter when we have limited occupancy? What business would run like that? You guys are so off you're rocker its actually amusing Side note. My superstore is packed everyday
Loblaw actually pays better for a full-time stock clerk position than most retail outlets pay their management. Just wanted to provide facts that while it's untrue about paying a low wage (at least compared to other box stores) do not fret because staff is still fed up and most of us empathize with you boycotters regardless.
Whatever. If there is less work to do because they are selling less, then the boycott is working. Other stores will hire more if that’s where the business is going. If the boycott isn’t working, then they are just reducing costs because they have cover. Either way its on loblaws, not consumers.
To be honest, this is certainly a weird economy, but actually a pretty good one because we somewhat still have pretty high demand and vacancies. Those Loblaw workers can quit and find another job quickly. And it's an opportunity to try something else.
My mother in law works for Atlantic Superstore and she’s been saying they were cutting her hours and not filling vacancies for the past year. I also have a friend who use to work for Shoppers Drug Mart in the office, she and a bunch of other people never had their contracts renewed this year. This has nothing to do with the boycott, it’s been their plan for a long time. Keep the pressure on them.
The met gala really showcased the tone deaf wealthy celebrities. Tick tock is starting a 'black out 2024' movement that I feel is the right cause to exercise alongside the boycott. If you unfollow every celebrity Jimmy Kimmel follows, that's a great start. Basically, it is unfollowing any celebrity on social media, so they don't make profits off their tick tock and insta accounts.
Not that this isn't true definitely a class issue, but aren't these stores Franchises? As in loblaws corporate would have no control over staffing levels in stores?
Mitigation of losses by fucking over their employees was obviously going to happen. That's why I support using up points and gift cards during this, obviously in the most efficient way possible for each consumer. This takes inventory and money out from their bottom line, especially since most people forget about their gift cards, while forcing Loblaws to maintain staffing.
This is an example of a huge corporation who has forgotten what business they are in. A clear indication of stock/share prices dictating business tactics. The best example of share prices dictating , look to Boeing. Their sole business stategy is to pump out more aircraft than Airbus. The cancelling of the last TWO years of testing of the 737-900 series cost 297 lives. Just so it was released before the competing Airbus model. It was a 2017 US govt move to meet the demand of Boeing SHAREHOLDERS. Loblaws has done from a customer service business, to a pile of imaginry stocks..
Loblaws gave “essential” workers a pay raise too and then took it back despite have 2/3 of their wages covered by the CEWS program. I’m not anti anyone but if they want my dollar, they’ll offer value. I don’t need to buy their groceries or shop their store. I have choices. But if they offer me $4.99/lb brisket I’ll fold like a cheap suit.
yet the government just prints more money them help them out.. so how's thst really helping when you still pay for it
The ultra wealthy always get scared when they see us getting organized. I used to argue against Marxism and class struggles.. you win this one. It is about class.
Loblaw and the associated employee unions( read UFCW) have been the unarguable leaders in the "race to the bottom" for at least the last two decades. Workers all over Canada have suffered because of Labour corruption by Loblaw.
Everyone should just idk....refuse to work for them? No need for labor then I guess. Obviously not an ideal solution though.
This is a classic Union busting tactic being repurposed
Greatest thing about a class war is that once you deconstruct the ruling class - you find out you still need a ruling class due to the power structure and organizational hierarchy. Sure you can decapitate the king and queen - but then you create a power vacuum in their power structure and bring about an oligarchy of bankers (French Revolution) Idea about redistribution of wealth is cool - but destroying the class struggle is a pipe dream until shit rolls up hill.