An Ontario judge has ordered an end to a union blockade of Metro Inc.‘s Toronto warehouses after almost a week of picketing that disrupted deliveries of fresh meat and produce around the province.

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Metro wins court order ending union blockade of food warehouses as sides return to bargaining table Back to video

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The Montreal-based food and drug retailer, which runs 268 stores under the Metro and Food Basics brands in Ontario, said the ruling would “end the illegal blockade” and allow it to start restocking shelves.

But the decision still allows the union to temporarily hold up trucks at the warehouses in west-end Toronto.

While the union initially vowed to continue to picket the warehouses until both sides come to a deal to end a month-long strike at 27 Metro stores in and around the city, it released a statement later on Aug. 29 saying the parties were returning to the negotiating table and that it would stand down, at least for now.

“As a gesture of good faith Unifor will discontinue picketing at Metro warehouses, although entitled to continue doing so as per the judge’s interim order,” Unifor spokesperson Paul Whyte said in the statement.

Metro spokesperson Marie-Claude Bacon also confirmed negotiators were back at the table as of the afternoon on Aug. 29. 

Unifor, which represents the roughly 3,700 Metro workers who walked off the job last month in the Greater Toronto Area, started blocking trucks in and out of two warehouses on Aug. 23 to try to force the company to accept its wage demands.

The company said the blockade risked spoiling food and creating empty shelves in asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for an injunction to put a stop to the action, and it requested $5 million in damages for “intimidation, nuisance, unlawful confinement” and intentional infliction of mental distress, among other infractions, according to court documents filed by Metro.

Judge William Chalmers granted Metro’s request for an injunction, ruling the union’s actions may result in “irreparable harm” to Metro. He ordered picketers to only block delivery trucks into the warehouses for up to five minutes “for the purposes of peacefully communicating information.” At the end of every 10-minute period, the judge said the union must allow 10 trucks in or out.

“I acknowledge that the defendants have an interest in picketing to advance their labour dispute,” Chalmers said in his written decision. “However, they are not to advance their interests through tortious or criminal conduct.”

The judge awarded Metro $5,000 to cover costs associated with the hearing, but his decision does not mention the company’s request for $5 million in damages.

The blockade escalated a local labour dispute into what the union is now calling a flash point for the national labour movement.

At a press conference on Aug. 23, the first day of the blockade, Unifor national president Lana Payne said workers at the cluster of GTA stores were inspiring other unionized employees around the country to push back against “corporate greed” in Canada.

“There is something happening in this country right now,” she said during a press conference at the time. “These workers have set a fire to the labour movement.”

In July, union leaders came to a tentative agreement with Metro that they said was the best wage offer they’d negotiated in 25 years. The deal would have increased hourly wages by $3.75 for full-time and senior part-time workers over four years, with a $1.05 increase upfront and 90 cents in the following three years.

Part-time wages would have risen by $2.65 per hour over the course of the deal, with $1.25 upfront. The company said it was also offering paid sick leave for part-timers and improvements to its pension and benefits package.

But Unifor Local 414 members rejected the offer and went on strike on July 29, forcing Metro to close 27 stores.

Local president Gord Currie said workers want a higher raise in the first year of the deal to replace the controversial “hero pay” bonus of $2 per hour that Metro and its main rivals removed on the same day in June 2020 — a national scandal that pushed Ottawa to strengthen federal laws against wage fixing.

Full-time employees at the 27 Metro stores earn $22.60 an hour on average, while part-timers — who make up more than 70 per cent of the workers on strike — get an average of $16.62, according to the union.

Unifor also represents employees in the Financial Post’s Toronto newsroom.

• Email: jedmiston@postmedia.com