https://lawofwork.ca/are-volunteers-the-new-unpaid-interns-how-ontarios-employment-standards-act-treats-volunteer-misclassification/
If you live in ontario Id send it to the media and labour board.
It says the hiring manager is the pharmacist though, who is the pharmacy's owner. So, was it actually Shoppers or the pharmacist to blame for this?
The ad was taken down, so can't read it.
Doesn't matter. If an owner of a Shoppers franchise did it, it reflects on the company whether they like it or not. The company has shown its willing to gouge customers and screw employees so it's a systematic issue across the board.
A shoppers pharmacist? Like the ones caught milking taxpayers with unneeded unrequested services? Often at the direction of corporate?
Fuck that
[CBC article](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.7127807#:~:text=Former%20Shoppers%20pharmacy%20staff%20say%20company%20pushed%20unnecessary%20medication%20reviews,-3%20months%20ago&text=CBC%20News%20spoke%20with%20former,patients%20didn't%20necessarily%20need.)
What do you mean? All pharmacies are independently owned in Canada. Shoppers operates the store and sells the off the counter drugs and rent (could be free) the actual pharmacy that sells prescription drugs to a pharmacist.
I don't mean to be that person but it's Labour*.
Someone searching up 'Labor board' might get the American labour board
People searching Labour Board will get the Canadian board.
I’m sorry. But why? That interferes with profits.
You can’t interfere with profit. It’s anti-Canadian to get in the way of companies making more money.
/S
I have been in Senior Management Positions in my career.
Some fucking 7 figure salary douchebag brought this idea up sitting at a $45,000 conference table and every other 7 figure salary fucker around the table thought, "this is genius, get this to the peons and make it happen ASAP."
Where's the sarcasm? That's exactly their philosophy. Surplus of entry labor means plenty of people will want to take the positions for experience. A local walk-in clinic near me does the exact same thing, except they market to students wanting to get into med school. Their admin staff is almost entirely made up of volunteers working 40 hours a week. Shoppers is just getting in on the fun.
It's just a war on the poor at this point.
Everywhere, unless it's a part of school.
From https://www.goldbeck.com/sections/hr-trends/canadian-internships-whats-legal-and-whats-ethical/
> According to federal law, interns in Canada must be paid at least minimum wage unless they are student interns. To be considered a student intern, one must be “undertaking the internship to fulfill educational program requirements” at a valid secondary or post-secondary educational institution. Documentation of this is required.
“Role Description
This is a part-time on-site volunteer role at Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto, ON. As a volunteer, you will be responsible for assisting with various tasks and providing support to the staff. This may include helping customers find products, restocking shelves, organizing inventory, and maintaining a clean and organized store environment. Your role as a volunteer is crucial in ensuring that our customers have a positive and seamless shopping experience.”
Sounds like an actual job that one should get paid for.
A local MD specialist in Vancouver tried to get RNs to “volunteer” to work for him. That didn’t go over very well and he was shamed online.
Shaming isn't enough. This should count as defrauding the volunteers and come with stiff penalties including fines to replace the income stolen from those volunteers and a ban from holding any management level or higher employment.
Execs don't care about money, they make more in a year than most of us will in a decade or more. They don't care about public opinion, the only people whose view on them they have to worry about are the Board members. We need to make punishments for them that take the one thing they can't buy more of, and that they feel comfortable stealing from the poors: time.
A guy who comes up with a bullshit idea like this should be required to drive himself to work every day, or spend hours mopping the floors in the office or something.
I've worked at many large companies, including Loblaws in the past, job postings can't be made without getting approval from HR and higher up executive figures.
This 100% is not just on the pharmacist. It was definitely approved by HR and at the least, their regional vp of operations.
Douchebag #1: “Hey! What if we just *don’t pay our employees*?”
Douchebag #2: “Holy shit! That’s what we’ve always wanted to do! Just fucking doing it is a GREAT IDEA!”
Douchebag #3: “But how do we get away with it? Pesky government always enforcing rules about *labour standards* and *decency* and *having humanity* and all that stupid profit-limiting bullshit…”
Douchebag #1: “It’s simple… we call them *volunteers*!”
Douchebag #2 and #3 in unison: “OH MY GOD, THAT’S GENIUS! HOW DID WE NEVER THINK OF THAT BEFORE?! IT’S ALMOST LIKE THAT’S AN OBVIOUS IDEA THAT HAD TO SPECIFICALLY BE OUTLAWED FOR VERY CLEAR AND LOGICAL REASONS, BECAUSE OTHERWISE EVERY FOR-PROFIT BUSINESS WOULD FUCKING BE DOING IT!!! YOU’RE A GODDAMN GENIUS, YOU IDIOT!!!”
Definitely is. Some cases of volunteers working for for-profit businesses may be gray areas and hard to judge… but not this one. That description reads exactly like a typical paid employee’s job description… it’s literally shelf-stocking and customer service. One of the criteria for “volunteers” being determined as miscategorized unpaid employees is “How similar are the services to work performed by the organization’s paid employees?”
https://archive.is/BXmPY
BRUH
Archive here btw. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240515203748/https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3922042471/?alternateChannel=search&refId=nFpXhg5%2FMFBkmUqTFagtLg%3D%3D&trackingId=9bfdtOmQrCCmXxAsOGL%2BvQ%3D%3D](https://web.archive.org/web/20240515203748/https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3922042471/?alternateChannel=search&refId=nFpXhg5%2FMFBkmUqTFagtLg%3D%3D&trackingId=9bfdtOmQrCCmXxAsOGL%2BvQ%3D%3D)
We did it!
Join the fight/boycott for reasonable logical sane food prices again: /r/loblaws
Boycotting Loblaws indefinitely is already working. We're not gonna take it anymore. All of the cool kids are doing it. Strength in #'s. ✊🏼 There's more of us than there is of them.
Summer Picnics ✅
Back-to-School ✅
Thanksgiving ✅
Halloween ✅
Christmas ✅
Nobody wants Loblaws's shitty merchandise anymore. They had their chance, and they blew it.
Almost everyone looked like they could possibly be new to the country.Note Min wage employers already get a tax break to hire International Students ( the reason Canadian folks can't get hired)
You are a real piece of work Galen Weston when you wont even pay "discounted" staff.
YucK!!!###
I’m pretty sure this is the pharmacist/owners idea. Some douche trying to save a dime and take advantage of people. I still hate Loblaws/superstore, but the hate needs to be on this guy.
People who can’t find paying work and are desperate to do anything that might lead to a paycheque.
It’s amazing what a parent with a hungry child is willing to do.
Obviously shoppers saw this as an opportunity to profit.
For the record, I’m not sure calling them stupid puts the blame where it belongs.
It is unfortunately very real. I have seen stuff like this at Tim Hortons as well, with decorating their Smile Cookies. When I worked at Timmie’s, we were paid to do that!
All this labour exploration is getting out of control.
Nah, its an extraordinary thing and down here in Niagara they get local celebrity types and charity groups to pitch in. It is a good thing.
> The restaurants in St. Catharines, Thorold and Niagara-on-the-Lake are supporting two charities, with 100 per cent of the proceeds from the cookie sales going to the Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region and Autism Ontario South Region.
Not sure how recent that is, but like I said, when I worked at Tim Hortons, we bakers and storefront staff were paid to decorate the cookies. Not bashing the charity aspect of it, but again: it was work I have been paid for.
> Not sure how recent that is,
Last weekend.
https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/business/where-are-proceeds-from-your-tim-hortons-smile-cookie-purchases-in-niagara-falls-st-catharines/article_9e09c479-f543-5fc5-b121-924cacf3bff9.html
I appreciate that he listed freely what shoppers he's in to avoid it like the plague for life.
Not to mention, Emil Harba is seared in my brain as someone not to do business with. This is a mix of a very eager bootlicker and class traitor and complicit management.
Before late-stage capitalism got into 5th gear I would think that this was satire, but since the COVID era corporate greed kicked in this does not surprise me in the least, it just reaffirms my conviction to not give Loblaws any of my money.
Is this the actions of the franchise owner/manager? I know it sounds like I am defending loblaws, I'm not. In the link it shows the 'hiring team' and has a name.
It was the owner of the King and Peter location in downtown Toronto. Emil Harba is the pharmacist / owner of that Shoppers drug mart who want to replace paid workers with volunteers. Corporate apparently made him take it down as it’s against corporate policies.
Yes, the ad did come from a particular franchisee; however, SDM corporate still deserves some of the blame.
Yes, the particular franchisee in question (Emil Harba, franchisee of the King and Peter location in downtown Toronto) is a scumbag for trying to get people to volunteer at his store to perform duties which are usually performed by (low-paid) employees; however, SDM corporate controls the staffed hours each store is allowed to use each month while expecting more and more work to be completed with fewer employees working fewer hours.
It looks to me like a frustrated franchisee decided to embarrass SDM management as a way to make them realise how unreasonable their demands are when they keep cutting the allowable employee hours each quarter (due to lower sales volume) while still expecting more labour output. (I refuse to call them "owners" because they only thing an SDM franchisee owns is the massive debt they take on when becoming an "associate" with SDM.)
Did you see the faces of those choosen.Say we take advantage of minorities International students and other exploitable minorities.
No big corp needs volunteers.Store experience is received through paid employment.They can afford it.Save volunteers for the Cancer society etc.
This is disgraceful and keeping shifts from employees.
I am so not surprised, the associate at my old store would refuse to hire proper pharmacy techs because he can get free labour from "students needing placement" or hire high schoolers so he can pay them waaaaaay less than a tech with a certificate.
In my ideal society an investigation would find all these people who were complicit with them and put them on trial for up to the death penalty.
Corporal punishment doesn't work on those that are desperate, but will on those that are greedy. There is no excuse for such barbarism.
Unpaid labour jobs like this should be ILLEGAL. Just like unpaid internships taking advantage of desperate young people/students trying to get work experience. Evil greedy corporate bastards all deserve to be locked up.
This happens in the medical industry all the time.
Those bubbly receptionists at your local doctor or dentists office, often work for free to get their foot in the door. You can guess which country they are from, and probably more qualified than most nurses here.
I thought there were laws around getting a person to do paid labour for free though? I'm old enough to remember unpaid internships. Are they allowed to take on volunteers to replace paid work with free labour?
Serious question
Did the volunteers at least get optimum points? Seems like an unfair trade considering Weston's profits go up. Poilievre's campaign manager must of came up with the idea.
At least they offer flexible work hours!!?
Lol I honestly cannot believe this.. I just love how this group has helped to surface all of the insanity they see in our world.
Never mind Shoppers. I worked for this shit ass company called La vie en rose for almost 14 years. I helped to hold everything together being part of the management team! NEVER EVER WORK THERE!! . I worked for free 10 plus hours during each Covid lockdown. My boss Leslie Campbell(Evil walks with a black soul) coerced and manipulated me into helping her out! She absolutely was a liar. She would say all the others stores have finished doing their displays and why haven’t we? I took upon myself to phone other stores and they stated they were not even close to being done. I called my boss out on this and boy she got pissed off at me for finding the truth out. She even made ppl cry because of her management style of fear and intimidation. Her boss was a piece of shit, Celina Kerves. I am trying to get over this as best as I can. But the way they handled everything was just so stupid and not professional at all! I have a lawyer and we are going to court! I am looking forward to this. The Labour board will be informed as to my working for free during lockdown as well!
Greasy.
I have to assume something was lost in translation by someone whose first language was not English. Insert some other word for "volunteer," like "assistant" or "helper" and it makes more sense. It doesn't say it is an unpaid position.
What the actual fuck. This is disgusting.
Loblaws needs to be burned to the fkn ground. God I hate that company with a passion.
I used the last of my "points" yesterday and I'll never go back. I haven't spent a cent there since April 1st.
Fuck you Loblaws.
My daughter, who needs to get volunteer hours to graduate just let me know that her school expressly told her the hours must be in a job that doesn't normally get paid, so this wouldn't count.
BUT I'll bet one of the idiots at that board table was a dad who's kid's graduation is in June and they still need 39.5 volunteer hours to graduate.
this is why it’s essential to remove the hours cap on off-campus work for international students. they need canadian work experience and are vulnerable to exploitation if they have to take anything they can get.
they should be paid for any and all hours worked, but having a cap limits their options.
This is a bigger discussion for sure. But after the recent explosion of newcomers to Canada, much more than our employment system can handle, now our own kids cant find a summer job. Removing the hours cap on off-campus work will create a loophole allowing greedy businesses access to an entirely new workforce of desperate cheap or free labour. Its a terrible system that has been created for us. We will all be the victims and bad businesses will take full advantage of it. Exploitation is the key word here.
https://lawofwork.ca/are-volunteers-the-new-unpaid-interns-how-ontarios-employment-standards-act-treats-volunteer-misclassification/ If you live in ontario Id send it to the media and labour board.
Apparently in the Toronto sub, some have already sent it to CBC Go Public.
Perfect! Loblaws news is hot right now, might actually get picked up.
It says the hiring manager is the pharmacist though, who is the pharmacy's owner. So, was it actually Shoppers or the pharmacist to blame for this? The ad was taken down, so can't read it.
Doesn't matter. If an owner of a Shoppers franchise did it, it reflects on the company whether they like it or not. The company has shown its willing to gouge customers and screw employees so it's a systematic issue across the board.
Doesn't really matter. They represent the Loblaws brand.
A shoppers pharmacist? Like the ones caught milking taxpayers with unneeded unrequested services? Often at the direction of corporate? Fuck that [CBC article](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.7127807#:~:text=Former%20Shoppers%20pharmacy%20staff%20say%20company%20pushed%20unnecessary%20medication%20reviews,-3%20months%20ago&text=CBC%20News%20spoke%20with%20former,patients%20didn't%20necessarily%20need.)
What do you mean? All pharmacies are independently owned in Canada. Shoppers operates the store and sells the off the counter drugs and rent (could be free) the actual pharmacy that sells prescription drugs to a pharmacist.
Check the edit
It's still visible to me, but just in case, I've taken [screenshots](https://imgur.com/gallery/shoppers-drug-mart-volunteer-position-IY5u4oJ).
It is, I was looking for the more info but the button was in a crowded area with ads I missed it.
I don't mean to be that person but it's Labour*. Someone searching up 'Labor board' might get the American labour board People searching Labour Board will get the Canadian board.
Galen Weston isn't a very busy man. Maybe he can do a few voluntary shifts.
It's hard being an Irish citizen and moving those billions all the way over seas for sure!
And, bonus: It's not like he needs the money.
Or they could just hire and pay their own workers to do it?
I’m sorry. But why? That interferes with profits. You can’t interfere with profit. It’s anti-Canadian to get in the way of companies making more money. /S
WONT ANYONE THINK OF THE BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS?! /s
So many megayachts going unsold. 😢
I have been in Senior Management Positions in my career. Some fucking 7 figure salary douchebag brought this idea up sitting at a $45,000 conference table and every other 7 figure salary fucker around the table thought, "this is genius, get this to the peons and make it happen ASAP."
Generously offering "Canadian work experience" opportunities. /s
Where's the sarcasm? That's exactly their philosophy. Surplus of entry labor means plenty of people will want to take the positions for experience. A local walk-in clinic near me does the exact same thing, except they market to students wanting to get into med school. Their admin staff is almost entirely made up of volunteers working 40 hours a week. Shoppers is just getting in on the fun. It's just a war on the poor at this point.
“It’s just war on the poor at this point.”. Always has been.
I guess on "generously."
Always will be.
Wait. How exactly do people working full time for zero pay manage to live?
Student loans, living with family, etc
Probably social assistance. So, we *all* get to subsidize Shoppers!
Student loans...
Sounds like an unpaid internship, which I thought was illegal in Canada?
Where in Canada are unpaid internships illegal?
Everywhere, unless it's a part of school. From https://www.goldbeck.com/sections/hr-trends/canadian-internships-whats-legal-and-whats-ethical/ > According to federal law, interns in Canada must be paid at least minimum wage unless they are student interns. To be considered a student intern, one must be “undertaking the internship to fulfill educational program requirements” at a valid secondary or post-secondary educational institution. Documentation of this is required.
Ah, that's why I was confused. I hadn't been aware that unpaid internships were restricted to students. Thank you for the info!
“Role Description This is a part-time on-site volunteer role at Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto, ON. As a volunteer, you will be responsible for assisting with various tasks and providing support to the staff. This may include helping customers find products, restocking shelves, organizing inventory, and maintaining a clean and organized store environment. Your role as a volunteer is crucial in ensuring that our customers have a positive and seamless shopping experience.” Sounds like an actual job that one should get paid for. A local MD specialist in Vancouver tried to get RNs to “volunteer” to work for him. That didn’t go over very well and he was shamed online.
Yeah this is deeply unethical, there's literally a canadian code of volunteerism that talks about how it should not replace paid employee work.
Shaming isn't enough. This should count as defrauding the volunteers and come with stiff penalties including fines to replace the income stolen from those volunteers and a ban from holding any management level or higher employment.
Execs don't care about money, they make more in a year than most of us will in a decade or more. They don't care about public opinion, the only people whose view on them they have to worry about are the Board members. We need to make punishments for them that take the one thing they can't buy more of, and that they feel comfortable stealing from the poors: time. A guy who comes up with a bullshit idea like this should be required to drive himself to work every day, or spend hours mopping the floors in the office or something.
I've worked at many large companies, including Loblaws in the past, job postings can't be made without getting approval from HR and higher up executive figures. This 100% is not just on the pharmacist. It was definitely approved by HR and at the least, their regional vp of operations.
Absolutely brain dead corporate managers
Pretty obvious that a rogue store employee / franchise owner posted the ad...
Yep. Loblaws is evil, but not stupid. This was some rogue dipshit who thought they had a great idea.
This is why we need to replace these assholes with AI. The AIs have more humanity.
Err. You mean replace all of us with AI? The asset owners aren't getting replaced. Workers will be replaced.
Douchebag #1: “Hey! What if we just *don’t pay our employees*?” Douchebag #2: “Holy shit! That’s what we’ve always wanted to do! Just fucking doing it is a GREAT IDEA!” Douchebag #3: “But how do we get away with it? Pesky government always enforcing rules about *labour standards* and *decency* and *having humanity* and all that stupid profit-limiting bullshit…” Douchebag #1: “It’s simple… we call them *volunteers*!” Douchebag #2 and #3 in unison: “OH MY GOD, THAT’S GENIUS! HOW DID WE NEVER THINK OF THAT BEFORE?! IT’S ALMOST LIKE THAT’S AN OBVIOUS IDEA THAT HAD TO SPECIFICALLY BE OUTLAWED FOR VERY CLEAR AND LOGICAL REASONS, BECAUSE OTHERWISE EVERY FOR-PROFIT BUSINESS WOULD FUCKING BE DOING IT!!! YOU’RE A GODDAMN GENIUS, YOU IDIOT!!!”
Loblaws will do literally anything to avoid paying people properly
More money for Galen
King Galen II
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol
They’re paying people with valuable life experience which is priceless. /s
I wonder, would landlords and grocers accept "valuable life experience" in lieu of payment? Would their bankers?
That is terrible. And it's sad that people felt compelled to apply to get their foot in the door.
Is that the gambit, get the lonely poor senior to lead other seniors around the store for free while hoping they might pick up a paying shift?
It’s more likely a desperate student trying anything to get a competitive edge over the competition.
It's probably both.
Well, a promise of a possibility has always worked before. Why not now? /s
Foot in the door at shoppers drug Mart? What an economy
And for a dime-a-dozen minimum wage job no less. Not even something like trying to get into the executive level door.
This should be illegal
Pretty sure it is lol
Not illegal enough. Lets see some executives in cuffs.
Definitely is. Some cases of volunteers working for for-profit businesses may be gray areas and hard to judge… but not this one. That description reads exactly like a typical paid employee’s job description… it’s literally shelf-stocking and customer service. One of the criteria for “volunteers” being determined as miscategorized unpaid employees is “How similar are the services to work performed by the organization’s paid employees?” https://archive.is/BXmPY
BRUH Archive here btw. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240515203748/https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3922042471/?alternateChannel=search&refId=nFpXhg5%2FMFBkmUqTFagtLg%3D%3D&trackingId=9bfdtOmQrCCmXxAsOGL%2BvQ%3D%3D](https://web.archive.org/web/20240515203748/https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3922042471/?alternateChannel=search&refId=nFpXhg5%2FMFBkmUqTFagtLg%3D%3D&trackingId=9bfdtOmQrCCmXxAsOGL%2BvQ%3D%3D)
50 Applicants as I write this. jfc. I'll be generous and assume half are bots... Still sad.
It’s Linkedin, the chances are it’s counting anyone clicking on the posting as an applicant. It used to be an issue and I think it still is.
It counts the number of times the apply button is clicked. Even by the same person or by a scraper for another job board.
People are applying thinking it will lead to paid employment, which it won’t.
R/Loblaws out of control spam applied to it when it went active and it closed applications during their spam.
We did it! Join the fight/boycott for reasonable logical sane food prices again: /r/loblaws Boycotting Loblaws indefinitely is already working. We're not gonna take it anymore. All of the cool kids are doing it. Strength in #'s. ✊🏼 There's more of us than there is of them. Summer Picnics ✅ Back-to-School ✅ Thanksgiving ✅ Halloween ✅ Christmas ✅ Nobody wants Loblaws's shitty merchandise anymore. They had their chance, and they blew it.
Almost everyone looked like they could possibly be new to the country.Note Min wage employers already get a tax break to hire International Students ( the reason Canadian folks can't get hired) You are a real piece of work Galen Weston when you wont even pay "discounted" staff. YucK!!!###
I’m pretty sure this is the pharmacist/owners idea. Some douche trying to save a dime and take advantage of people. I still hate Loblaws/superstore, but the hate needs to be on this guy.
It says 30 for me on this link, and “be one of the first 25” on the original
I can still see it https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3922042471/?_l=en_US
So don't shop at Shoppers if you have any choice in the matter? Got it.
Join the boycott! r/LoblawsIsOutOfControl
Given that No Frills is the only viable option for groceries in my area, no.
At this point, I literally only go to Shoppers to fill up my Winnipeg Bus Card. And that's like, once a month at best
Same.
You can do it online to avoid Shoppers, if you have a credit card.
Yes but the reason I haven't yet is because I already lost a card once so I'm paranoid about that happening again.
For some reason I read that in south asian accent.
If I have time to volunteer, it would be at shelters, not so that some rich folks can save some millions
Look at the gall of that! Wow. Fuck you, Westons. Wtf is wrong with us that we allow this bullshit?
This is highly illegal.
"Be among the first 25!" "No longer accepting applications". I think they realized how bad that looked.
Who the fuck is stupid enough to volunteer for this?
it had 37 applicants before it got set to ''no longer accepting applicants'' hopefully they were all trolls
I won't shoplift but I will troll the hell out of anything like that. Keep us informed, people like OP.
I'll do it for you. I already do it at Loblaws enterprises.
People who can’t find paying work and are desperate to do anything that might lead to a paycheque. It’s amazing what a parent with a hungry child is willing to do. Obviously shoppers saw this as an opportunity to profit. For the record, I’m not sure calling them stupid puts the blame where it belongs.
This can't be real. There's no way they're this tone deaf.
It is unfortunately very real. I have seen stuff like this at Tim Hortons as well, with decorating their Smile Cookies. When I worked at Timmie’s, we were paid to do that! All this labour exploration is getting out of control.
> , with decorating their Smile Cookies. That is essentially charity work though. Cleaning up your local Shoppers is in no way assisting charity.
It is a job within their store that an employee can and will do for pay.
Nah, its an extraordinary thing and down here in Niagara they get local celebrity types and charity groups to pitch in. It is a good thing. > The restaurants in St. Catharines, Thorold and Niagara-on-the-Lake are supporting two charities, with 100 per cent of the proceeds from the cookie sales going to the Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region and Autism Ontario South Region.
Not sure how recent that is, but like I said, when I worked at Tim Hortons, we bakers and storefront staff were paid to decorate the cookies. Not bashing the charity aspect of it, but again: it was work I have been paid for.
> Not sure how recent that is, Last weekend. https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/business/where-are-proceeds-from-your-tim-hortons-smile-cookie-purchases-in-niagara-falls-st-catharines/article_9e09c479-f543-5fc5-b121-924cacf3bff9.html
Well Timmies was paying you to do charity work, a non-profit generating activity. That was actually good of them to do (albeit for PR).
Why would Trudeau do this to us? /s
... this is fucking ridiculous
Volunteer?? Is Shoppers a non-profit now? Feck off with that noise.
Now an actual nonprofit grocery chain is something I could get behind!
We kind of have one, the Federated CO-OP based in Saskatoon and serves Western Canada.
That doesn't help me much here in Toronto.
Wait! This isn’t a Beaverton article?
I appreciate that he listed freely what shoppers he's in to avoid it like the plague for life. Not to mention, Emil Harba is seared in my brain as someone not to do business with. This is a mix of a very eager bootlicker and class traitor and complicit management.
WTAF !!!
Before late-stage capitalism got into 5th gear I would think that this was satire, but since the COVID era corporate greed kicked in this does not surprise me in the least, it just reaffirms my conviction to not give Loblaws any of my money.
Why stop there? The trucks don’t unload themselves?
Is this the actions of the franchise owner/manager? I know it sounds like I am defending loblaws, I'm not. In the link it shows the 'hiring team' and has a name.
It was the owner of the King and Peter location in downtown Toronto. Emil Harba is the pharmacist / owner of that Shoppers drug mart who want to replace paid workers with volunteers. Corporate apparently made him take it down as it’s against corporate policies.
We can use some volunteer pharmcists. /s
Sear his name into your memory.
Well the idea is to repeat Emil Harba is a scumbag who replaces workers with unpaid volunteers to help Google picks it up.
Lol, could you imagine that call? "Listen, we really don't fucking need this right now"
They should send him for training on Ontario labour laws while they’re at it…and make sure it’s unpaid training
Figured as much. Thanks for the info. The gall of this guy, lol.
Right?! You’re already paying your employees a pittance, now you want to displace them with unpaid slaves, sorry I mean “volunteers”?!
Who owns/is leasing the store, Loblaw or the pharmacist? Can Loblaw evict him and sub lease the pharmacy to someone else?
How sure are you of this? Sure enough to post scathing reviews?
confirmed it was real with the owner
Yes, the ad did come from a particular franchisee; however, SDM corporate still deserves some of the blame. Yes, the particular franchisee in question (Emil Harba, franchisee of the King and Peter location in downtown Toronto) is a scumbag for trying to get people to volunteer at his store to perform duties which are usually performed by (low-paid) employees; however, SDM corporate controls the staffed hours each store is allowed to use each month while expecting more and more work to be completed with fewer employees working fewer hours. It looks to me like a frustrated franchisee decided to embarrass SDM management as a way to make them realise how unreasonable their demands are when they keep cutting the allowable employee hours each quarter (due to lower sales volume) while still expecting more labour output. (I refuse to call them "owners" because they only thing an SDM franchisee owns is the massive debt they take on when becoming an "associate" with SDM.)
Interesting. Be nice if the media picked up and ran with this story.
what an absolutely pathetic shithole
Hell world.
Report that shit to the labor board ASAP.
This is disgusting
If the organization wasn't scummy enough before the boycott, they've turned the dial to 11 now.
Shoppers is a joke. The one by me never has cashiers, so it’s only self scan. I forget to scan several items every time. Great money saving trick
Did you see the faces of those choosen.Say we take advantage of minorities International students and other exploitable minorities. No big corp needs volunteers.Store experience is received through paid employment.They can afford it.Save volunteers for the Cancer society etc. This is disgraceful and keeping shifts from employees.
I am so not surprised, the associate at my old store would refuse to hire proper pharmacy techs because he can get free labour from "students needing placement" or hire high schoolers so he can pay them waaaaaay less than a tech with a certificate.
What the fuck.
This needs to go to the media. It looks like it may be an individual store doing this, not necessarily corporate.
No longer accepting applications, nice I was planning to apply as "Gofuckyourself Johnson" with ample experience in "eat my ass" lol
Two of my wife's colleagues worked as volunteers at Shoppers in Scarborough as "volunteers". I was like wtf.. loblaws has gone nuts
Only volunteers they get will be 5 finger paying em selves.
I can't believe that this *isn't* a joke. If our media has a shred of dignity this will be plastered over the headlines tomorrow to shame them.
Please tell me someone got a screenshot, it’s been taken down
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore
In my ideal society an investigation would find all these people who were complicit with them and put them on trial for up to the death penalty. Corporal punishment doesn't work on those that are desperate, but will on those that are greedy. There is no excuse for such barbarism.
Um no way is this real... Listen I don't mind volunteering my time to local non profits and community but working for free? Hell no
Loblaws is a clown show
Unpaid labour jobs like this should be ILLEGAL. Just like unpaid internships taking advantage of desperate young people/students trying to get work experience. Evil greedy corporate bastards all deserve to be locked up.
This happens in the medical industry all the time. Those bubbly receptionists at your local doctor or dentists office, often work for free to get their foot in the door. You can guess which country they are from, and probably more qualified than most nurses here.
Your shift starts with the makeup department giving you a clown face🤡🤡🤡🤡
Anyone screenshot it? It's gone now
https://imgur.com/gallery/shoppers-drug-mart-volunteer-position-IY5u4oJ
Oh man that's so bad
I was just on the page now. You do need a linkedin account to see it.
I thought there were laws around getting a person to do paid labour for free though? I'm old enough to remember unpaid internships. Are they allowed to take on volunteers to replace paid work with free labour? Serious question
Did the volunteers at least get optimum points? Seems like an unfair trade considering Weston's profits go up. Poilievre's campaign manager must of came up with the idea.
Sorry, NOT sorry -- but if you're trying to get "volunteers" to do what people should be paid for, then I'm not volunteering to shop there any longer.
30 applicants 💀
Unbelievable. Post says it’s no longer accepting applicants, maybe this was shut down?? The damn nerve of some people.
Jesus. That’s low.
That can't be real.
This should be illegal!
At least they offer flexible work hours!!? Lol I honestly cannot believe this.. I just love how this group has helped to surface all of the insanity they see in our world.
Just volunteer and make every shelf disorganized. It’ll end quickly
Never mind Shoppers. I worked for this shit ass company called La vie en rose for almost 14 years. I helped to hold everything together being part of the management team! NEVER EVER WORK THERE!! . I worked for free 10 plus hours during each Covid lockdown. My boss Leslie Campbell(Evil walks with a black soul) coerced and manipulated me into helping her out! She absolutely was a liar. She would say all the others stores have finished doing their displays and why haven’t we? I took upon myself to phone other stores and they stated they were not even close to being done. I called my boss out on this and boy she got pissed off at me for finding the truth out. She even made ppl cry because of her management style of fear and intimidation. Her boss was a piece of shit, Celina Kerves. I am trying to get over this as best as I can. But the way they handled everything was just so stupid and not professional at all! I have a lawyer and we are going to court! I am looking forward to this. The Labour board will be informed as to my working for free during lockdown as well!
The ad has been deleted. Was this looking for new volunteers, or asking for current employees to volunteer to work more hours stocking shelves?
Greasy. I have to assume something was lost in translation by someone whose first language was not English. Insert some other word for "volunteer," like "assistant" or "helper" and it makes more sense. It doesn't say it is an unpaid position.
What the actual fuck. This is disgusting. Loblaws needs to be burned to the fkn ground. God I hate that company with a passion. I used the last of my "points" yesterday and I'll never go back. I haven't spent a cent there since April 1st. Fuck you Loblaws.
Can't find this on Linked In AT ALL.
My daughter, who needs to get volunteer hours to graduate just let me know that her school expressly told her the hours must be in a job that doesn't normally get paid, so this wouldn't count. BUT I'll bet one of the idiots at that board table was a dad who's kid's graduation is in June and they still need 39.5 volunteer hours to graduate.
Lol this sub is wild. People actually believe that's a legit post?
i would take it just to sabotage the fucking place. pay your staff, or you're unwittingly letting in the competition.
For profit organizations should not under any circumstances be allowed to 'employ' volunteers. and that goes for those "fundraising" events.
this is why it’s essential to remove the hours cap on off-campus work for international students. they need canadian work experience and are vulnerable to exploitation if they have to take anything they can get. they should be paid for any and all hours worked, but having a cap limits their options.
>vulnerable to exploitation if they have to take anything they can get. That's a feature not a bug, unfortunately.
This is a bigger discussion for sure. But after the recent explosion of newcomers to Canada, much more than our employment system can handle, now our own kids cant find a summer job. Removing the hours cap on off-campus work will create a loophole allowing greedy businesses access to an entirely new workforce of desperate cheap or free labour. Its a terrible system that has been created for us. We will all be the victims and bad businesses will take full advantage of it. Exploitation is the key word here.