'An absolute gut punch': Dozens facing unemployment as South Keys Metro converts to Food Basics

South Keys Metro to be replaced by Food Basics, leaving employees out in the cold

A Metro grocery store in Ottawa's South Keys neighbourhood will be replaced by a Food Basics this fall, costing dozens of employees their jobs.

Metro Inc. says the store, which closed Wednesday, is being converted to a Food Basics to better meet customer needs in the area.

"We regularly assess our store network based on a range of factors, including local market conditions and store performance," a spokesperson with the company wrote in a statement to CBC. "Moving to a discount banner reflects the type of market and demand in the area."

The decision still came as a shock to employees at Metro's Southgate location, however.

"We were all just stunned," said Justin Braganza, a meat cutter who has worked at the store for more than 30 years.

Braganza, who's also a volunteer steward with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, said he and his colleagues were informed of the impending closure in May by their regional manager and another Metro representative who cited financial pressure.

"They said that rent had gone up and that they didn’t feel that our store was profitable enough to sustain the Metro model," he explained. "We were told very bluntly that we were all being terminated."

CBC asked Metro if the cost of rent contributed to its decision to convert the Southgate store, but the company maintained the change was made based on local market conditions and customer needs.

The Southgate Metro employed 72 people. Metro told CBC that under to the terms of their collective agreement, those workers don't have the option to transfer to other Metro stores.

"Employees who are interested in working at the new Food Basics store are invited to apply and will be considered through that process," the company wrote.

The collective agreement for the new Food Basics store requires Metro to hire a minimum of 10 part-time and five full-time employees who worked at the Southgate Metro and who apply to work at the new store, a spokesperson with the company explained.

Because Metro and Food Basics operate under different wage structures, if a former Metro Southgate employee is hired at the new store their seniority will be taken into consideration within the Food Basics pay band, the spokesperson said.

"It was just an absolute gut punch," he said. "They don’t use meat cutters at Food Basics, so I don't have a job waiting for me at this new store if I was even successful in the application process."