1978 Safeway Strike

For 8 weeks starting on June the 5th 1978, Safeway workers, some 1700 people, were on strike in Manitoba. A rare sight greeted Safeway shoppers through those long hot weeks: picket signs and picketers in front of the store. For the strikers and the Retail Clerks Union Local 832, the issues were wage increases, expanding benefits, and the gender pay gap.

MAP CREDITS

Story and Map by Scott Price

SOURCES

Allard, Denis, interviewed by Scott Price, July 16th 2012, Winnipeg Manitoba. Digital Audio Recording. UFCW Local 832 Oral History Project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba.

Belisle, Donica. Retail Nation: Department Stores and the Making of Modern Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Cassidy, Christian. Safeway in Winnipeg Part 1: Setting Up Shop. West End Dumplings. (Accessed November 23rd 2020)

Christophe, Bernard, interviewed by Bea Bruske, September 21st 2012, Toronto Ontario. Digital Recording. UFCW Local 832 history project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba

Dudas, Joan, interviewed by Scott Price, July 28th 2013, Winnipeg Manitoba. Digital Audio Recording. UFCW Local 832 Oral History Project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba.

Dziewit, Darlene, interviewed by Scott Price, June 25th 2012, Winnipeg Manitoba. Digital Recording. UFCW Local 832 Oral History Project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba. 

Harris, Richard. Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban, 1900-1960. Themes in Canadian History, 7. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Hart-Kulbaba, Susan, interviewed by Scott Price, August 6th 2013, Winnipeg Manitoba. Digital Recording. UFCW Local 832 Oral History Project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba.

MacPherson, Robb, interviewed by Scott Price, September 16th 2013, Winnipeg Manitoba. Digital Audio Recording. UFCW Local 832 Oral History Project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba.

MacPherson, Robb, Interviewed by Scott Price, June 6th 2017, Winnipeg Manitoba. Digital Audio Recording. UFCW Local 832 Oral History Project, Oral History Centre Archives, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Manitoba. 

“NDP takes side on picket lines.” Canadian Dimension Vol 15 no. 6 (July 1981).

Opler, Daniel J. For All White-Collar Workers: The Possibilities of Radicalism in New York City’s Department Store Unions, 1934–1953. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2020.

Paler, Bryan. Working Class Experience: Rethinking the History of Canadian Labour 1800-1991. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1992.

Pragnell, Bradley J. Organizing Department Store Workers: The Case of the RWDSU at Eaton's 1983-1987. Kingston: Industrial Relations Centre, Queen's University, 1989.

Sufrin, Eileen. The Eaton Drive: The Campaign to Organize Canada's Largest Department Store 1948-1952. Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1982.