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May 24, 2025 - 4:00 AM
An attempt by Kamloops retail workers to unionize fell flat even before they could come to a collective agreement with their employer.
Local Sephora employees were the first in company history to sign on with a union in 2022, but things collapsed in less than two years.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1518 took on the cosmetic company amid what it said was a "growing movement" in the in retail industry. The union was vocal about its efforts to negotiate, announcing an unfair labour practices complaint, a staff bag-check policy change and flirted with a Christmas time walk-out.
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But, employees quietly left the union last year.
In an emailed response to iNFOnews.ca, the union said Sephora staff decertified in April 2024.
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iNFOnews.ca contacted the store, but an unnamed employee said they were barred from speaking and deferred to the company for comment. Sephora did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2022, the employee who spurred the union drive told iNFOnews.ca his coworkers were mostly concerned about wages and benefits at the time.
"Not everybody that works in retail is a high school student, and even if everyone was, that doesn't mean their labour has any less value," Richard Friess said in September 2022. "We're all a root canal away from not being able to afford rent."
Corporate staff showed up to the store to glean who started the effort to unionize and the company sent its own documentation to staff about what collective representation would mean. A year later, the union claimed Sephora threatened to cut wages and benefits in response to its demands.
Applications to decertify are typically filed to the labour board by employees. It then requires a majority vote from unionized staff to be approved, according to the labour board website.
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Meanwhile, Kamloops workers at A&W recently became the first in Canada to sign a collective agreement with the fast food chain. The 18-month effort to negotiate for what's often seen as an entry-level job was no easy task, largely because staff don't stay long.
Now that it's signed, it means the 20 workers at the Valleyview neighbourhood A&W have a two-year agreement through their union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 993.
Whether it was high turnover at Sephora or another reason that led them to decertify, however, isn't known.
iNFOnews.ca reached out to the BC Labour Relations Board but a spokesperson didn't immediately respond.
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