Hotline, Winter 2010 Strikes and lockouts, if they occur at all, are normally over in days or weeks, but for the workers at the Loblaws-owned Extra Foods store in Maple Ridge, BC, their dispute is now being counted in years. December 15th is the two year anniversary of the fight these workers, members of the United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 1518, have undertaken to protect their collective agreement from rollbacks that would see them go from being among the best paid grocery workers in BC to poverty level wages. The parent company – Loblaws/Westfair – is demanding that workers give up wages and virtually all of their benefits, including their pension. Sometimes the only way to beat a bully is to take a stand and not back down. Loblaws and Extra Foods is clearly the bully in this community, and UFCW Local 1518 members know the only way to survive is to continue to stand tall against the bully. The strike in Maple Ridge is a deliberate attempt by Canada’s largest and wealthiest grocery retailer to destroy the livelihoods of its employees in order to make even more money to send back to their Toronto headquarters. Maple Ridge is the front line in a dispute that is slowly unrolling right across the province. Extra Foods members in Prince Rupert put up their own picket line after Loblaws closed the store rather than reach a fair settlement for a new contract. There are nine more Extra Foods and Super Valu stores across the province where Local 1518 members are watching to see if Loblaws tries to bring their brand of economic terrorism to town. As the weeks and months – and now years – go on, it seems that Loblaws is totally committed to taking away the opportunity to earn a living wage from those it employs - no matter how long it takes and how much it costs! Loblaws does not have one good or legitimate reason for doing what it is doing to UFCW Local 1518 members in Maple Ridge and Prince Rupert. If Loblaws was to get their way, the effect would very likely be severe downward pressure on the wages of every other retail food worker in BC. BC’s labour community remains committed to supporting the members in Maple Ridge, and now Prince Rupert, who are leading the fightback against this bully. As The Hotline goes to press, a March & Rally at the Maple Ridge Extra Foods location is being organized by the New Westminster & District Labour Council, the Fraser Valley Labour Council and UFCW 1518 to show labour’s support for these workers. The event will take place on Wednesday, December 15 starting at noon. | 
