SUNDRE – Provided the ongoing labour dispute at the Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver does not get drawn out, the local – and only – grocery store should not experience any substantial disruptions.
“So far, we’ve been able to have supply on almost everything,” said Cam Bowman, Sundre Freson Bros. manager.
“Of course we don’t know how long the strike’s going to go,” Bowman quickly added on Nov. 23 during a phone interview.
But even amid the continuing strike action that began on Sept. 28 when 138 workers started picketing, Bowman anticipates managing to keep some sugar on the shelves; at least in the short-term through next month.
“We’ll be fine through the Christmas season,” he said, adding things at the store were going smoothly with staff preparing for the holidays.
Meanwhile, the owner of a local bakery had anticipated potential shortages and proactively planned accordingly.
“I do have some backup on stock because I did stock up when I had heard that there possibly could be a shortage,” said Nicci Doyle, who owns and operates the Backwoods Bakery and Café.
“But I did go to order sugar last week, and I couldn’t get any in,” she told the Albertan on Nov. 23 over the phone.
“So, fingers crossed it doesn’t last for too long though, because we go through a lot,” she said.
Asked how long she anticipates her excess stock might last in the event she’s unable to resupply any time soon, she said, “I would say – for what I stocked up – I’m hoping it would last me three to four weeks.”
That would mean somewhere around the lead-up to Christmas.
“So, fingers crossed that by then we’ll have some issues resolved,” she said.
Offering additional insight, she pointed out that white sugar seems to be in short supply and does not anticipate running out of brown sugar.
“I do have enough brown sugar to last me because I double stocked up on that because I use a lot of that in my cinnamon buns,” she said.
“But my white sugar, I went to stock up this week again and that’s the one that concerns me because I couldn’t get it in this week.”
Some of Doyle’s clients are also nervous about the possibility of running out of sugar with Christmas around the corner.
“I’ve actually had a lot of my customers come in and they’re like, ‘If I can’t find any, do you have enough to lend me a few cups to do some baking?’ and I’m like, ‘Hopefully, but no guarantees!’” she said. “It just depends on what I’ve got left for me.”
Annual revenue of Rogers Sugar Inc., which is a holding company that owns Lantic, increased steadily from 2014 to 2022, at about $532.3 million in 2014 to a little more than $1 billion in 2022.
In a 2022 fiscal report, Dallas H. Ross, chair of the board and chair of the HR committee of Rogers Sugar Ltd. as well as chair of the board and of the Strategic Initiatives Committee of Lantic Sugar Inc., wrote to shareholders that “Fiscal 2022 was a record year for Rogers Sugar with adjusted (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) reaching more than $100 million for the first time in our company’s history.”
Ross also wrote that 2022 represented “more than 15 years of stable dividends.”
Mike Walton, Rogers Sugar’s CEO, receives a total yearly compensation of about $1.63 million, comprised of 31.6 per cent salary and 68.4 per cent bonuses including company stock and options.
According to a search on Glassdoor jobs, a general labourer at Lantic Inc. will be required to carry out physically demanding work in conditions that can be hot, cold, wet, dry, dusty and loud for a base rate of $21.23 per hour.
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.
Martin Barnett, executive director of the Baking Association of Canada, also issued a statement.
“We are encouraging the involved parties to resolve this issue. The detrimental effect on our bakers’ production not only imperils this busy baking season, but has serious ramifications for the operations of our small and medium-sized bakeries in the future,” it reads in part.
“Lantic assure us that they are willing to come to the table to negotiate with the union, but there are still many obstacles to overcome before discussions resume. Even when the plant is up and running, there will be a lag of several weeks before full inventory is re-stocked,” he wrote.
“We encourage you not to hoard sugar, but we do understand that it is important to guarantee your inventory.”
Rogers has reportedly submitted a request for mediation to arrive at a resolution to the nearly two-month long strike. The company says it has applied to the British Columbia Labour Relations Board for mediation for help reaching a new collective agreement, and added the union has accepted mediation.
The Rogers Sugar refinery in Vancouver is one of only three large sugar refineries in the country that processes imported cane sugar.
