Metro reports skyrocketing profits while workers continue to strike in GTA

Canadian supermarket chain, Metro Inc., posted a massive profit of 26.1% with net earnings of $346.7 million, while workers at 27 of its stores in the Greater Toronto Area continue to be on strike since last month.

Metro said the skyrocketing profits in its third quarter are due in part to a tax benefit after the Canada Revenue Agency granted capital losses to the company that had previously been disallowed. The Montreal-based company’s adjusted net earnings rose 11 per cent to $314.8 million, while adjusted fully diluted net earnings leaped 14 per cent to $1.35 per share.

Metro’s results come at a time when around 3,700 frontline store employees at 27 Metro stores walked off the job on July 29, after members of Unifor Local 414 members rejected a tentative agreement between the grocery store giant and the union workers.

In a tweet responding to Metro’s results, Unifor president Lana Payne said that “Metro workers are fighting for decent work and pay,” and that there are “no excuses.”

Metro chief executive Eric La Flèche in earnings call on Wednesday, said the company “worked constructively with the union and the employees bargaining committee to reach a very good agreement providing significant pay increases,” and remains “committed to the bargaining process and look forward to a resolution and the reopening of our stores as soon as possible.”

While workers continue to strike in Toronto and its suburbs, the union says its priorities for Metro workers remain improving pay and access to benefits, as well as improving working conditions and stability. In a tweet, uniform said that “it is time for workers to get their fair share of the Metro’s record profits.”

Rahat Sandhu