Be a part of building Safeway’s Future

Lawson Heights is moving on to bigger, better location

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Maninder Singh

We are excited to announce we are relocating Safeway’s Lawson Heights location in Saskatoon to a newly-renovated space on the opposite end of the mall, in what was formerly a Target location. The official opening is expected to take place in early 2018.

We are working to determine staffing requirements for the new store. This includes relocating employees from the current location, which will continue serving the area’s shoppers until the move takes place.

This is one more step in our commitment to re-invest in our Safeway community, building and strengthening our business in an ultra-competitive market. We know our staff are working hard to provide the best service to our shoppers and we will continue these investments in our store network, offering a high-value shopping experience with a focus on quality products at affordable prices.

The updated, full-service Safeway store will be larger than the current Lawson Heights location, offering a better assortment of products and greater variety for our Saskatoon customers.

We still face extremely tough and growing competition from our competitors. If we want to return to our role as Western Canada’s leading grocery store — providing thousands of good, stable jobs — we must get our costs back into line. Considering the success we’ve seen with our franchised stores in Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, we plan to franchise this location when we have better insight on the sales in this new store. We believe that building a mix of both corporately owned and franchised stores is critical to the overall success of our business.

We will share more details on timing as they become available, and we are happy to answer any questions our employees may have. Lawson Heights staff can direct their questions to their Store Manager Jim Buzzard, Director of Operations Todd Leibel, or Human Resources Manager Cheryl Tomlinson.

This relocation is an exciting move for us, and one that will help us face and overcome our challenges as we move forward building a better Safeway future, together.

CFL, Blue Bombers and Safeway/Sobeys Reach out to Karen Kuldys

Posted on July 17, 2017July 17, 2017 by Maninder Singh

You might have heard about last week’s CFL close call where Karen Kuldys almost won the Safeway/Sobeys $1,000,000 Touchdown to Win contest. Twitter lit up with #whataboutkaren tweets, and we’re happy to share the following on how we came together with our partners in the CFL in support of Karen.

Friday, July 14, 2017 — WINNIPEG – Canadian Football League Commissioner Randy Ambrosie spoke with Winnipeg Blue Bomber fan and Safeway and Sobeys’ Touchdown To Win contestant Karen Kuldys today and invited her and her family to attend this year’s 105^th Grey Cup presented by Shaw in Ottawa as VIP guests of the League.

“We’re all fans and whatever team you root for, we would all love to see a CFL fan win a million dollars. So we all feel for Karen and what she must have gone through last night, and what she must still be feeling today. I was in Winnipeg for the game and I spoke with her today. On behalf of the CFL, I invited her and her family to come to Grey Cup this year as our guests,” said Randy Ambrosie, the CFL’s Commissioner. “I know Karen’s a Blue Bomber fan and her son plays football, so we spoke with Wade Miller, the President and CEO of the Bombers, this morning. He immediately pledged to provide Karen with Bombers season’s tickets for the rest of this season and next season as well. We all know these things can’t compare to a million dollars but we wanted to do something to let her and her family know that we all wished she could have won last night.”

He added: “It was a very tough call made by our official last night, one that could have gone either way. There are tough calls made all the time in our game because these are world class athletes, moving at tremendous speeds, and we ask our officials to make difficult judgement calls in the blink of an eye, and we have to respect their decisions.”

Safeway and Sobeys’ Touchdown to Win Contest, which awards a Visions $25,000 home theatre package to a contest entrant if one kickoff is returned for touchdown, and a million dollars if a second kickoff is returned for a touchdown in the same game, is part of the grocery chains’ partnership with TSN, which along with RDS is the exclusive broadcaster of the CFL. Today, Sobeys announced that, in addition to the home theatre package, it will provide Karen with free groceries for one year at any Safeway or Sobeys.

“We were thrilled that Karen won a $25,000 home theatre package after one kickoff was returned for a touchdown,” said Lyne Castonguay, Executive Vice President, Sobeys Inc. “And while we can’t reverse a referee’s on-field call, we are delighted to be able to offer Karen a year’s worth of free groceries in addition to the great football offers made by the CFL and the Blue Bombers.”

B.C. Wildfires: How We’re Helping

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Maninder Singh

Since the fires began to escalate on July 6, we’ve been working closely with our community partners, the Canadian Red Cross, and local emergency response teams to provide emergency supplies to those affected.

On July 11, we launched an in-store campaign in the province of BC, where customers can make a donation towards the Red Cross at their local Safeway or Thrifty Foods store. One hundred per cent of donations will support relief efforts.

Sobeys Inc. will match customer donations made in-store throughout BC up to a maximum of $25,000. In addition, Sobeys has provided more than $7,000 in provisions to date such as food, meals and water.

Thank you to our incredible employees and generous customers. Together we can help provide further support to our neighbours impacted by the approximately 250 fires raging in BC.

If you would like to make a donation and you are outside BC please visit the Red Cross website at www.redcross.ca

Update for Employees Affected by B.C. Wildfires

Posted on July 11, 2017July 11, 2017 by Maninder Singh

We’re thankful all employees from our 100 Mile House store and their families were evacuated safely and we are aware the Williams Lake employees are currently on standby for possible evacuation. We recognize this is an extremely difficult and challenging time filled with uncertainty. We are here to help support you.

Time lines for residents and businesses to return to their communities are still being determined. It remains unclear when our store will reopen and our employees will be able to return to work.

We continue to closely monitor the situation and are working with the BC government to ensure we have the latest information.

We’re committed to keeping impacted employees up-to-date as the situation unfolds as it relates to return to work timelines, employee support and relief efforts. Employees can:

Call 1-800-295-3348 Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. MT
Email their questions to Employee Support
Access EAP services at 1-844-751-2133 or workhealthlife.com
Learn about the latest emergency updates at http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status

Financial Update for Employees

Posted on June 30, 2017July 7, 2017 by Maninder Singh

Safeway employees,

Earlier this week our CEO Michael Medline announced quarterly results for Empire Company, the company that owns Sobeys and Safeway.

These results are important not only to our shareholders, but also to you, our employees. Ultimately you, are a big part of tackling our challenges and securing our future. These results are a measure of how we are all doing. The numbers Michael announced this week told us we are on the right track. But they also confirmed there is much more to be done.

As Michael said, “we are not where we want to be and we are most certainly not out of the woods yet. Although we are doing a better job of managing our day-to-day business, we remain in the nascent stages of delivering significant cost savings while addressing a number of brand and customer offering opportunities that will provide a compelling reason for consumers to shop us more.”

What does this mean for Safeway? It means we are at the very early stages of getting back to being the place where customers want to shop. That is how we will build a strong and growing company, with stable jobs for our people. To be able to do that, we have to do many things at Safeway — including getting a handle on costs which, right now, are among the highest in this crowded and brutally competitive industry. We have to address this issue since doing nothing won’t make our challenge go away. Addressing it gives us a path forward.

For more information on the results, you can find the full comments here.

You can also read some of the coverage here.

We’re in this together.

Jason Potter

Safeway Responds to UFCW Local 247

Posted on June 30, 2017June 30, 2017 by Maninder Singh

BC Unions, UFCW Local 247 and UFCW Local 1518 have written to us with their questions and concerns on this process. We posted our replies to the Unions up on our website because we want to ensure our employees understand the Company’s position on this process and what we are doing to improve the business to make Safeway a better place to work and shop. The Quarterly Review Process is a just one part of what we are doing throughout the Company to make sure we can remain competitive in this rapidly changing grocery industry.

Please see our response to UFCW Local 247 below:

UFCW Local 247’s Letter:

Safeway Responds to UFCW Local 1518

Posted on June 30, 2017July 7, 2017 by Maninder Singh

Click here to read UCFW Local 1518’s letter.

Please see our response to UFCW Local 1518 below:

A Summer Worth Celebrating!

Posted on June 29, 2017June 29, 2017 by Maninder Singh

Our company, like this great country of ours, is shaped by the many people, cultures and communities that make us great.

2017 marks Canada’s 150^th anniversary. We want to get the party started and celebrate this special summer in communities across Western Canada. Whether you’re a new employee or have worked with us for years, we have plenty of ways to get involved.

You likely already know that we had special t-shirts made for the occasion. You’ve been wearing them and it seems these beauties have created the right atmosphere in our stores. What else? Our Pier 21 initiative is something we’re especially proud of. We’ve partnered with Pier 21 to support their collection of stories on how Canadians became Canadians.

Before we explain, a bit of history for you: Pier 21 opened in 1928 in Halifax. It was the point of entry for some one million immigrants and has been called the Gateway to Canada. Our founder, J.W. Sobey, was a member of the British Royal engineers and formally immigrated to Canada in 1867. Pier 21 is now the site of the Canadian Museum of Immigration.

With 125,000 employees from coast-to-coast, we’re inviting you to share your own stories and favourite family recipes, through www.sobeys.pier21.ca and help us create a living legacy for future generations.

Once you read our stories, we hope you will tell us yours! Talk to your Store Manager to find out how you can get involved.

We should all be proud to contribute to making Canada a stronger, healthier nation.

Update for Safeway Saskatchewan Employees

Posted on June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 by Maninder Singh

Dear Safeway Saskatchewan Employees,

As you know, unionized employees in Saskatchewan have been without an agreement since June 2014. To date, Safeway and the RWDSU have been unable to reach a deal through the collective bargaining process.

Meanwhile, our company continues to face an uncertain and unsustainable financial situation.

Earlier this week, we met with the Union to bring them up to speed on Safeway’s financial situation and to discuss a return to the bargaining table.

During our meetings, Safeway and the Union agreed to reach out to Vince Ready, a well-respected mediator, to assist us in future talks.

In the mediation process, Mr. Ready would help Safeway and the Union resolve their differences and reach a middle-ground that results in a new collective agreement. If the parties are unable to reach agreement on all outstanding issues, then Mr. Ready would prepare written recommendations on any unresolved issue.

We believe that this is a positive step that may help Safeway and the Union break the current bargaining impasse and reach a new collective agreement.

The parties are now in the process of arranging dates for mediation. We will keep you informed about next steps as more details become available.

Larry Tholl,

VP Safeway Operations for Saskatchewan

Quarterly Review Process in B.C.

Posted on June 16, 2017June 29, 2017 by Maninder Singh

As you may be aware, we’ve experienced some challenges in the British Columbia market and a number of our stores have been losing money for some time.

The challenges facing all grocery retailers today are unprecedented. We face extremely tough and growing competition each day and these competitors continue to challenge us on price and on costs.

If we want Safeway to regain our place as one of Western Canada’s leading grocery stores – a place that provides good, stable jobs for thousands of people – then our stores simply have to be the best places for our customers to shop.

To address some of these challenges, we have made some significant investments, including new commercial programs, a more competitive offering and enhanced marketing and pricing support. However, while we are committed to this marketplace, we’ve reached the point where we’re unable to be profitable based on our current costs.

As you may be aware, we have an opportunity to address our unprofitable stores through the Joint Union Management Quarterly Review Letters of Understanding in our Collective Agreements with the UFCW Locals 1518 and 247 in B.C. These Letters of Understanding allow us to request a review of the performance of stores that are experiencing financial difficulties or whose continued viability is questionable.

The Quarterly Review process is an opportunity for the Company and the unions to examine and negotiate measures within the Collective Agreement that could be taken to help make these stores profitable once again.

Following a careful review of all Safeway stores in British Columbia, we have selected 20 stores to be placed under Quarterly Review. This does not mean that these are the only stores that are not profitable. In fact, most of the Safeway stores in B.C. are currently operating “in the red.” However, in an effort to minimize the amount of disruption throughout our operations, we have selected our most challenging stores in B.C. to be placed on Quarterly Review.

We have formally advised the UFCW Locals 1518 and 247 that we will be triggering the Quarterly Review process for the following stores:

#121 Lougheed Mall Burnaby
#92 Strawberry Hills Surrey
#1 Surrey Central
#184 Newton Town Centre Surrey
#62 Fleetwood Surrey
#161 Broadmoor Richmond
#20 Sunwood Square Coquitlam
#70 Trail
#84 Collingwood Vancouver
#90 English Bay Vancouver
#33 City Square Vancouver
#138 Blundell Richmond
#89 Sahali Kamloops
#14 Sunshine Hills Delta
#7 Dilworth Kelowna
#75 100 Mile House
#2 West Broadway Vancouver
#36 Robson Vancouver
#179 Trenant Park Ladner
#182 Powell River

We are looking for solutions that will help return our stores to a profitable financial situation. The Company has and will continue to look for every opportunity to reduce our losses and we are looking forward to working with the unions to find an appropriate solution to this problem.

We realize that this is a difficult and likely an unpopular step to take, however, it is necessary. Recognizing that our employees are the backbone of our business, our goal is to find fair solutions for both the Company and the employees – solutions that ensure the long-term viability for Safeway. We hope to work with the unions to make changes so we can avoid possible store closures and continue to provide good jobs for our people.

As we continue to move forward with this process, you can sign up to receive updates from SafewayTalks. We want this to be a conversation and you can be assured that we are listening. Please visit the Q&A page and send us your questions. We are doing our best to answer everyone’s questions, and we look forward to having you join the conversation. We want to keep the lines of communication open and be available to address questions, concerns and suggestions.

Your Store Manager and HR Manager are here if you have any questions, and we will continue to use SafewayTalks to share information. We hope you will sign up to receive updates and join the conversation.