Overview
- Safeway employees represented by UFCW Local 401 voted to approve a five‑year collective agreement that halts planned strike action and keeps stores open under the current Safeway banner.
- Most workers will receive a $2,000 signing bonus, junior staff a $500 bonus, and the deal provides a cumulative 18% wage increase over the contract term along with expanded benefit and leave provisions.
- The company agreed to withdraw its Supreme Court action and to consult with a worker‑union committee on potential store closures or conversions, which the union says strengthens job security and preserves full‑service Safeway operations.
- Vitalité Health Network reported a vancomycin‑resistant enterococcus outbreak at Chaleur Regional Hospital that has closed a ward to visitors while enhanced cleaning and containment steps proceed to protect patients and staff.
- In Ottawa politics and local life, mayoral candidate Jeff Leiper published a platform promising 1,500 affordable homes and restored transit service while letter writers criticized provincial referendum materials as taxpayer‑funded; local sports coverage noted higher commercial fees to show Senators games and the team announced Jake Sanderson is out indefinitely with a lower‑body injury.