There's no sugar to be had at St. Albert grocery stores as workers at the Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver, B.C. near the two month mark of a strike.
Employees reached by phone at the following stores say there's no sugar on their shelves: Superstore; Pearson's Independent Grocer; FreshCo; both Save-on-Foods locations; Safeway; and the Co-Op Food Store.
The Gazette's phone call to Wal-Mart went unanswered, however, the store's website claims to have two kilogram bags of white granulated sugar in stock.
Like Wal-Mart, the Gazette was also unable to reach anybody at any Shoppers Drug Mart location in the city.
An employee at Reder Food Store on McKenney Avenue said as of Nov. 22 at 3:00 p.m. the shop had two 2-kilogram bags of sugar.
The Pearson's Independent Grocer staff member said the store wasn't expecting another shipment of sugar until next Wednesday, while the Safeway employee said it's possible the store receives a shipment tonight, however “there's no guarantee.”
An employee at the Save-On-Foods store in north St. Albert said the store had a few 10-kilogram bags this morning but “they were gone in no time.” The store's grocery manager then said that the store is expecting a shipment on Sunday, but like Safeway, there's no guarantee.
The Vancouver refinery strike started on Sept. 28 when 138 workers started picketing.
The president of Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 8, Adrian Soldera, told the Canadian Press (CP) that the union is striking over “issues like wages, benefits and the company's proposal to increase refinery operations to 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.”
“Even if we went back tomorrow, the sugar won't really be hitting the shelves in full capacity until the first or second week of December,” Soldera told CP.
