Moose Jaw Co-op strike ends after agreement reached

Roughly 400 unionized workers at Moose Jaw's Co-op stores will be back on the job Thursday.

On Wednesday, the United Food and Commercial Workers union reached a deal with the Co-op.

"We're pleased an agreement was reached that was fair to both parties," Co-op general manager Gerry Onyskevitch said in a news release.

Workers served strike notice on October 2.

The new agreement preserves a two-tier wage structure between longer-term employees and those hired more recently. However, the agreement reduces the wage difference between the two groups of workers.

Co-op says the wage structure "was critical to the long-term competitveness" of the business.

The Moose Jaw agreement does not extend to another strike against Co-op stores in Saskatoon, Warman, Martensville, Colonsay and Watrous. Both sides in that dispute remainat a stalemate and have no further negotiations scheduled until November 29.

UFCW said Co-op's offer in Saskatoon would lower wages across 77 per cent of job classifications, including people with mental disabilities on work placements as grocery attendants.