Striking Pete's Frootique workers remain committed to cause as contract dispute drags on

As the strike by workers at the downtown Halifax Pete's Frootique location enters its seventh week, Tyson Boyd said he and his colleagues are starting to feel "a little angry and a little fed up."

"We've given Sobeys every opportunity to come back to the table and bargain in good faith and they have yet to do so at all," said Boyd, speaking outside the store on Dresden Row that's owned by grocery giant Sobeys.

The company closed the store indefinitely when the strike started on Nov. 18. About 90 workers represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 2 walked off the job after failing to negotiate a contract with the company, which is headquartered in Stellarton, N.S.

Because most people who work at Pete's make minimum wage, union officials have said a pay increase of five cents per hour offered by Sobeys doesn't come close to helping employees meet growing cost-of-living pressures. The minimum wage in Nova Scotia is $15 an hour. A report published in September calculated a living wage in Halifax to be $26.50.

Sobeys did not make anyone available for an interview. But in a statement, spokesperson Sarah Dawson said company officials are "interested in a return to the bargaining table as soon as the union leadership is ready."

But Boyd, who worked as a clerk in the Pete's flower department before the strike, questioned the company's interest in bargaining.

He said union officials approached the company last month about trying to talk ahead of Christmas and were told any conversations would not include a new wage offer.

Along with Sobeys and other grocery chains, such as Safeway, IGA and Foodland, parent company Empire Company owns about 1,600 stores across the country. Company financials show Empire's food retail division had $30.5 billion in sales for the fiscal year ending in May 2023, along with $610.1 million in net earnings.

Boyd said he thinks Sobeys is trying to wait out the striking workers. Backed by colleagues waving signs and handing out flyers to passersby, he said the resolve of people to remain on the picket line is based on the knowledge that "this is the only way that we're going to improve material conditions in this province."

"If we let Sobeys roll over us right now, like, it's going to be that much harder the next time any one of us tries to stand up to one of these companies," said Boyd.

"They don't know the kind of constriction we're going to be capable of here."

The group's union is planning a national day of action on Saturday, with events taking place outside grocery stores in various parts of the country. That, along with people stopping at the picket line to check in, helps the striking workers feel as though they have support, said Boyd.