Veteran Shop Steward Fights for Members’ Rights

Long-term UFCW 1518 Shop Steward Wayne Kjarsgaard has worked at Safeway for 35 years and has been involved with the union from almost day one, when UFCW 1518 was still the Retail Clerks’ Union.

Wayne first started working at Safeway #97 in Vancouver in 1975, then moved on to work at Safeway #20 in Coquitlam and today works at Safeway #198 in Maple Ridge as a General Clerk.

“In the early days, I went to a union negotiating conference where we decided that people in the stores needed to be represented like Shop Stewards do today,” said Wayne. Later, Wayne went to a Shop Steward’s school and became a Shop Steward.

“As a Shop Steward I enjoy being able to inform people about what their rights are because lots of members don’t know them and management can be absent-minded,” said Wayne, who has now been a Shop Steward for 33 years.

Although Wayne has a Danish background, he was born and raised in Vancouver where he went to Lord Byng High School.

He has two children. Angela, who also worked at Safeway, is now a secretary at a legal firm and a stepdaughter, Johanna, who is studying art therapy.

In his spare time, Wayne enjoys playing many sports such as golf, rugby and hockey. Unfortunately, injuries have held him back. When he injured his left shoulder the union fought for almost three years to prove his injury was work related and finally won. This win means if Wayne now injures it again, the operation will be covered by WorkSafeBC.

Wayne, who was once suspended, benefited from a Union Rep’s intervention. The result: the suspension was lifted.

“The union supports and protects the members,” said Wayne, “and the contract has come a long way. If it weren’t for the union, we would probably be still back in the 1940s and 50s as far as union organization and how workers are treated is concerned,” said the veteran Shop Steward.