A couple of local bakeries have managed to avoid a disastrous start to the holiday season amid an ongoing sugar shortage caused by a labour dispute at a B.C. refinery.
Nearly 140 workers at the Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver formed a picket line in late September after the company tried to implement mandatory 12-hour shifts, and extend the facility's operating hours to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
According to the Canadian Sugar Institute, the refinery produces some 240,000 tonnes of sugar each year, which is about 17 per cent of all sugar produced in Canada, and most of the refinery's production serves Western Canadian grocery stores and food industry suppliers.
Jennifer Gray, the owner of Whisk Bakeshop in St. Albert, said she hadn't felt the effect of the strike until Nov. 20.
“I think as soon as it hit the media, everybody panicked,” Gray said, adding, “Everybody was out buying sugar, including me, because we don't have a choice.”
Gray said she placed an order with her supplier early Monday morning as a safety measure before she went to the Costco Business Centre where she usually procures sugar for the shop, which ended up being a smart move as Costco's prices were nearly 50 per cent cheaper compared to the supplier after it significantly increased prices as a result of the shortage.
“A [20 kilogram] bag at Costco is $26.99, and my supplier is $48.99,” she said.
Gray said she thinks she was able to buy enough sugar to make it through December, which she said was a “paramount” time of the year for the business.
“It is the [rush] that gets us through the difficult January because January always just slumps, so for us it's super critical,” said Gray.
“I feel like we have a bit of a buffer, but that can change really quickly.”
Melinda Admiraal, the owner of Wild Earth Bakery in the Enjoy Centre, also said she decided to buy sugar in bulk now to try and avoid further supply issues in December.
“We pretty much tripled our sugar order,” Admiraal said. “We've got sugar like you wouldn't believe, but we go through a lot and Christmas is our busiest time of the year.”
“I feel confident we are going to have enough product to get us through the next month, but of course, there's still going to be part of me that is concerned.”
Admiraal explained that she has access to a warehouse in Edmonton as part of another business venture, and she's hoping to purchase a pallet of sugar that can be kept at the warehouse as an emergency supply.
She also said that her supplier gave the store both Rogers Sugar products and Redpath Sugar products. Redpath is the other major sugar company operating in Canada, and its refinery in Toronto has the capacity to produce more than 700,000 tonnes of sugar every year.
On Nov. 24, Rogers Sugar announced that the company filed for mediation with the B.C. Labour Relations Board, and the Union, Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 8, had accepted.
In an interview the day before, Adrian Soldera, the union president, said the union accepted the opportunity to have a mediator work with the two groups as workers do want to get back to work.
“When we brought this to the membership at the end of September we had a 100 per cent strike mandate because of this continuous shifting and the mandatory 12 hour [shifts] — I don't think that I have ever seen a report coming out of a strike vote where it has been 100 per cent,” Soldera said, adding that union members weren't expecting to be on strike as long as they have been.
As union members haven't had an active contract since February, Soldera said the company has offered a wage increase, however the increase fell short of the rising cost of living.
“What they're offering doesn't equate to the increase in everything else,” he said. “Everybody's just getting further and further behind.”
Heading into mediation Soldera said the union hopes the two sides are able to have an open and frank discussion, however the union is questioning the need for increased production at the refinery as the company has claimed that the sugar shortage has been limited to brown and yellow sugar — which is about 10 per cent of the refinery's total production — since the start of the strike because about 25 managers have been working in the refinery since workers formed a picket line.
“We're just having trouble figuring out what this demand is now if they're basically running the refinery at about 20 per cent capacity because obviously they're untrained as far as our guys are considered.”
In a Nov. 24 press release, Rogers Sugar said the company looks forward to working with the union on a new agreement so the refinery can get back to full production as soon as possible.
“We remain fully committed to engaging in discussions aimed at finding a solution that works for the Company and for employees, and one that supports customers for the short and long term by enabling us to best serve steadily rising demand for Canadian sugar,” the release states. “Since the beginning of the strike, the Vancouver sugar refinery has continued to operate at a reduced level, and we have used other facilities to help supply our customers in Western Canada.”
“We are working hard to support customers throughout the labour disruption.”
