The previous contract between those employees and Loblaw
Companies Limited, which runs the Dominion chain in Newfoundland and
Labrador, just expired. Now, with part-time workers struggling and
dozens of full-time jobs at stake, says Unifor Local 597 president
Carolyn Wice, the union hopes to save some of those jobs and build
morale among employees.

“The
work is there. It’s just that they’re distributing out the full-time
work now, the duties, the responsibilities, on these part-time workers,”
said Wice, who has worked at Dominion for 32 years.

“It’s exploitation of part-time workers, is what they’re doing.”

Up
to 70 full-time jobs could be lost in Dominion stores in the province,
Wice said, which leaves more than 80 per cent of the Dominion workers in
the province relying on part-time jobs that pay lower wages, require
them to pay their costs for the health-care plan, and don’t offer
consistent hours.