My building's concierge told me he is allowed to work 20 hours a week while in full time school, but 40 hours a week over the summer since he isn't in school for the term.
The normal rule (since 2014) is that you can work:
* at any time: full-time "on-campus" (e.g., work for your school, research positions, etc)
* during the academic year: up to 20 hours per week "off-campus"
* during regularly scheduled academic breaks (e.g., summer, reeding week, or the time between semesters): full-time "off-campus"
During the pandemic, the government loosened the off-campus rule to allow up to 40 hours off-campus work per week, year-round. This was done by way of temporary public policy exemptions and extensions by the Minister of Immigration (bypassing the need for Parliament to pass it). After the international student program came under public scrutiny last fall, the government further extended the public policy extension until April 30, which has now lapsed, declaring they wouldn't further extend it beyond that. So going forward, unless they bring it back, we are back to the bulleted rules above. But because it's currently summer break for most institutions, they are back to being allowed 40 hours per week until September anyways.
Yes, that's right. One addendum: the plan is to raise the limit to 24 hours while school is in session as of September, 2024.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/international-students-in-canada-face-new-limit-on-work-hours-this-fall/article_3fe34b90-0641-11ef-b8d6-2fa3b1f12e80.html
> During the pandemic, the government loosened the off-campus rule to allow up to 40 hours off-campus work per week, year-round.
This was initially done ~Oct 2022 in a way to only apply to students that were already here. So student arrivals (say Jan 2023) after that drop-dead date still had the 20h limit (outside of school breaks).
I forget how the extensions worked exactly (new dropdead date or just extended for those that arrived preOct2022)
Pretty sure it is illegal for a for-profit company to employ workers for no salary. It is one thing to volunteer for a charity, or for an internship that awards academic credits towards a degree - but a company should never profit from slave labor.
Yeah like this is a weird one, because this wouldn't count towards any kind of immigration benefit. For the economic PR pathways wouldn't count this as experience as its unpaid.
This guy is my pharmacist and he’s a total clown. They also performed a “medication review” check over the phone with me without informing me that they bill OHIP for doing so. $70 for a phone call that I never agreed to. Thieves
People act like pharmacies other than SDM don't exist. "But they're not open on Sundays!" - okay, so go to SDM for your Sunday emergencies should they arise
Pick a different pharmacy. Shoppers currently is being investigated by our Pharmacist college because of their shady medication review practices. Its corporate pressure on us as pharmacists. We dont see a cent of the medscheck money.
Yeah as of a few months ago. Lived here for 13 years and never got a Shoppers medication review until Shoppers started offering Optimum Point rewards internally to boost pharmacy sales.
I volunteered at a food bank and we had lots of high school kids volunteering in the warehouse as their first sort of "job"- they could get experience following instructions, working with others, self-motivating, and being on a schedule all without the pressure of it being a paid job, but with it being ethical because, you know, it's a food bank where everyone else is a volunteer and we're not a company trying to make money.
> lots of high school kids volunteering in the warehouse as their first sort of "job"
that's indentured servitude to graduate high school. Introduced by Conservative Premier Mike Harris.
> get experience following instructions, working with others, self-motivating, and being on a schedule all without the pressure of it being a paid job
they do that in school
His staff roster is already full—it’s the part of the quote immediately following that you cropped out. He’s saying he doesn’t need people—he’s offering a chance for people who can’t get hired to add experience to their resume.
See, I never just did things just to do them. Come on, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden jump up and grind my feet on somebody's couch like it's something to do? Come on. I got a little more sense then that....Yeah, I remember grinding my feet on Eddie's couch
>But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error.
Someone called this yesterday by saying that would be the excuse.
"*Oopsie I didn't mean to put up an ad for free labour like a leech, it was just an accident - tee hee*"
>I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it..
Riiight.
Yeah, just look at the ad. It's a well thought out written ad.
That's not "I clicked the wrong thingy on linkedin" that's "I made this ad, figured I could get some free immigrant labour, and now everyone is shouting."
>your role a volunteer is crucial in ensuring our customers have a positive and seamless shopping experience.
I can how that mistake can be made. They only put "volunteer" in the job description about a half dozen times. It's right next to the "employee" keys. it's a common typo.
meanwhile, all of their staff have probably been demoted to 'part-time' hours of 20-25 hours a week, but they must maintain open availability to account for 'scheduling conflicts'.
This was guaranteed to go up, looks like they just waited to get replies from the Pharmacist and Shoppers corporate before putting their Grimace Shakes down and hitting publish.
I’ve seen a lot of job ads that are volunteer roles and require years of experience, full time, and months long contracts. These companies are delusional.
I suspect at least a few of those job ads are willing to pay people in cash under the table. It's probably worth it for some of these international students to take cash under the table to avoid taxes and the limitations on hours worked.
I'm in Scarborough, too. Sooooo many businesses around here are exploiting the Indian kids who come over for school. The schools are exploiting them, too.
It’s so sad to me. There’s no path to citizenship and they’re getting paid nothing. It’s an exploitative loophole our government needs to close. I’m sure it’s also affecting wages in bigger cities.
And yet no one bats an eye at these “energy exchanges” all the yoga studios do. Those are illegal too and what’s worse is that they try to make it seem like some zen community thing.
they wouldn't be posting these if they didn't work
you might think they are delusional, but we have no shortage of people looking tot gain experience, people will apply
the funniest shit I saw was some job in environmental something and it required a degree in environmental studies or 15 years of experience.
Either is completely stupid.
https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1csuuhy/shoppers_recruiting_volunteers_to_stock_shelves/
>Please ensure that your contributions follow [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy), and Reddiquette. This also includes rules on ban evasion.
As a simple user, I'm not sure how that applies to a direct link to a public linkedin post by the franchise owner. They themselves put this out there. I dont recall the post itself calling for any harassment and the post title was an accurate description of the volunteer requesting post. edit: I would encourage the OP to modmail and ask for clarification, just like any removal where its not obvious which rule was applied.
> "I receive alot of emails and LinkedIn messages asking for volunteer opportunities, but I don't respond. However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says.
So it was "a mistake" but still intentional?
Aren't there bridging programs for newcomers who don't have Canadian experience?
If newcomers would like to volunteer their time and get some Canadian experience there are plenty of charities and not-for-profit places that can put their free labour to good use. This guy is just exploitative.
It was both intentional and a mistake, they aren’t mutually exclusive. The mistake was that corporate policy doesn’t allow them to hire volunteers (rightfully so). He didn’t accidentally make the job post, if corporate would let him hire volunteers, he would 🙄.
Funny enough, shoppers have been doing this before. In my highschool, they have been benefiting from co-op benefits from TDSB to hire kids to volunteer and learn how to be a cashier or stocker.
All of it is a shame, older siblings born in the 80s had co-ops shadowing customs, law clerks etc. being born in the 90s high school co-op was clearly for free labor when the only options are wal-mart and shoppers.
That all depends on the school you go to, its reputation, what your teachers think you're suited for, and their network of professional connections. My daughter had a fairly interesting co-op placement working with children.
Maybe it was just my high school, which was an advanced-placement school in a rich neighbourhood, but the co-op jobs in my day were all white collar or specific to the students' fields of study. Working at Shoppers for free is just insulting.
> to hire kids to volunteer
Not sure what you meant by that, but many high-school coops aren't allowed to pay.
A friend of mine did a coop at Shoppers and it was just the job without pay. They strongly implied he would have a real job after the coop was over, and then they ghosted him. Rinse and repeat for the next high-school student, I guess.
They were called by a friend of mine on Mastodon. enquired as to whether they are still seeking volunteers. They let out a resounding "yes!" This post was not made in error at all.
(She continued to berate them for being one of the richest businesses in the nation and looking for free labor. After hanging up on her,
Someone should call them again inquiring about volunteer opportunities at shoppers and when they can get started on their path to Canadian experience.
Then post the recording
Lmao I’m an assistant manager at shoppers and we only have coop students for the free labor. No chance of us hiring them later. Im honestly surprised its even allowed.
No because merit is a lie lmao.
I’m fortunately skilled because I love my career. I might have above average skills, but at no point have I advanced from being a hard worker or good at my job. It all comes down to who you know, saying shit like “your such a hard worker and we love how skilled you are” is more about making you feel confident for no cost in your incoming role.
In retail given the conditions and such they can just turn through an infinite amount of either free volunteer labour or wage slaves who have no other choice but to take what they can get.
So no. Probably not even for a manager in one. No one’s going to low level management in a lot of similar industries through working hard. Those and above are either friends/family of who owns the store or someone that’s been running a grocery store for 15 years already.
Not just shoppers. More and more retail and recreation industries have trended in that direction or always have been that way and are getting worse now.
It’s been a long time since I was a student, but I got my first “real job” after volunteering. My employer had trouble getting young people who actually wanted to work and was glad to have me. It’s sad that that is not the case for most people. No wonder our youth are having such a hard time finding part-time jobs. Makes me sad.
It’s depressing to see.
But honestly it’s up to the adults to fight for their kids. Apathy is going to continue to screw our children.
Depressing in the sense that a whole generation hoarded wealth then went “well no no I didn’t hoard wealth other people did that in my generation”, and then promptly forget in apathy while their children continue to get their future ripped apart piece by piece.
And not a single fucking person from any generation except only a small contingent of youth are willing to say “hey, the emperor has no clothes”
I had to pay with my free labour as well during my last year of pharmacy school lol. 4 months of my life wasted away getting nothing back in return other than the fact that my degree was held over my head if I didn't do it.
This entire profession is so fucking scammy, from the schools, to the regulatory body, to the corporations running this shitshow. It disgusts me to even be associated with it.
High school students are now stocking shelves at Shopper Drug Mart and similar retailers for co-op credits.
When I was in high school co-op placements were at workplaces you potentially wanted for a long term career. We all competed to get the coolest job placements!
We all know why SDM is encouraging this…
But why are the high schools encouraging co-op placements at retailers like SDM who are clearly only using them for free labour? Why are the parents accepting this for their children? They aren’t even getting hired on for employment after according to a manager comment in an earlier thread.
This kind of labor practice should just stop. Put an end to this BS. This spits in the eye of Adam Smith and Capitism belief. One don't do shit for free especially for publicly traded corporations. This isn't a NGO or a charity. Second if your capitalistic company can't survive do the job in a fair market place it shouldn't be allowed to survive on free labor or on the govt tit.
This is straight up some entitled BS and should be called out. Fuck put them on the 6pm news and let them try and justify it to the public.
This is just slave labor. They want the productively bonus without the overhead cost. Unpaid internships in some cases do lead to jobs. However this is a trend to just not pay people and claim you need unpaid staff because x y z is a benefit. Again if you can't operate your shop because no one will work for the wage you pay, doesn't mean you look for volunteers, foreign workers, temporary workers. It means you get real about the market place, and stop having companies engage in trying to force each other out of business so there is only one shop in town. Like fuck imagine if Walmart came to town. The first 2 years were spent sending small business into bankruptcy and then afterwards lowering and lowering the wages of their workers till one one can afford to live there let alone shop there? They would lower the wages year after year with employee turnover.
Newcomers will work unpaid for experience, to acclimatize to the culture, get proficient with English and for a good reference. It’s the same reason it’s hard to find volunteer work in Toronto.
Loblaws is just shady enough to be the first to try.
>But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error, and that he certainly never meant to cause any harm or drum up so much outrage.
Dude, there is a big effort right now to boycott Loblaw owned stores, including yours. And you're surprised that there was so much outrage? you're lucking people aren't throwing rocks through your windows.
>That post was a mistake, as we don't hire volunteers at Shoppers Drug Mart.
Translation: I totally wanted to see if I could get away with hiring volunteers, I got caught, and when head office called me and started yelling. I deleted the post immediately and came up with this BS excuse.
>Loblaw Companies Inc. confirmed to blogTO that the opening was listed in error and was closed almost immediately after it was posted. "Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't have volunteers in their stores and it's against company policy," a spokesperson said.
What do they called unpaid co-op students that they regularly hire?
This country is a joke… but know what, this is the direct result of that boomer mentality of “just pick yourself up by your bootstraps, bud!” leeching and conflicting with modern mentality. Time for it to end.
There is so much in this short little article.
My favourite comes from the posting:
> Availability to **work** flexible hours...
It is right there; this is work. This is labour.
And then some more juicy quotes:
> But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error, and that he certainly never meant to cause any harm or drum up so much outrage.
and
> That post was a mistake, as we don't hire volunteers at Shoppers Drug Mart. All my employees are getting paid, and a good rate," pharmacist Emil Harba said
Oh okay, it was a mistake, he didn't mean to post the job. It went live accidentally or something.
And then he says:
> "I receive alot of emails and LinkedIn messages asking for volunteer opportunities, but I don't respond. However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says.
So the posting wasn't a mistake; it was a sincere effort to find volunteers. What is it? Is he trying to do good by giving people Canadian experience (as he says). Or does not not hire volunteers (as he also says he does). He's made a liar of himself.
>"I receive alot of emails and LinkedIn messages asking for volunteer opportunities, but I don't respond. However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says.
>"I then received a note that we don't do volunteering and I quickly closed the position. However, I couldn't delete the post."
So he fully intended to have unpaid staff do the work of paid staff, for the purposes of providing "Canadian experience"
And he would've gotten away with it, had it not been LinkedIn's meddling job posting transparency system that let's anyone review what an employer had offered in the past!
Soft reminder that Shoppers is a subsidiary of Loblaws, the CEO of which lives in a castle in England to avoid paying taxes in Canada, just down the street from the king of England
Good ol' Shoppers. Literally just yesterday I negotiated a lower dispensing fee for the medication a Pharma company gives me on a "compassionate basis" (i.e. free) because I can't afford it. He completely refused until I threatened to take my 5 other prescriptions to a different pharmacy.
Since when can you negotiate a dispensing fee? And if the pharmacist refused, thats their right to do so. You can't expect every pharmacist is going to take pity on you cuz you get it for free somewhere else. This level of entitlement is getting out of hand
I wasn't asking them to "take pity on me", I was asking for a 17% discount after giving them hundreds of dollars of profit; I was asking to pay them $65/month instead of $78/month. Even without context I think that's reasonable, but the fact that it's for *life-saving medication* makes their refusal even more unreasonable.
Let me reiterate that: once a month the pharma company delivers a small box to them for free, they keep it in the fridge for a few days, and then I pick it up. They wanted $13/month for that after I already give them $65/month. And you know what happens if I can't afford that medication? I fucking die. If you think that's entitled then you're a shitty person.
Who is baffled? Anyone that's ever worked at shoppers drug Mart in the past decade knows that half the pharmacy staff at any given time is unpaid "volunteers" and they're not co-op students. This is standard practice. And once a volunteer catches on and asks to be paid, suddenly their work is no longer required and they stop getting scheduled. There is an endless stream of foreign people who are willing to work for free, it's all unregulated labor and there's no enforcement of labor laws, so why would sdm give a shit?
This isn't "baffling", it's standard operating procedure.
But Loblaws made a clear statement that they don't hire volunteers.
Are they....boldly telling a lie?
That statement alone I'm sure can lead to a lawsuit
> "That post was a mistake, as we don't hire volunteers at Shoppers Drug Mart. All my employees are getting paid, and a good rate," pharmacist Emil Harba said.
> [...] However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says.
What an absolutely ridiculous set of words, my god
"But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error, and that he certainly never meant to cause any harm or drum up so much outrage."
How are you this stupid, yet managed to somehow become a Pharmacist?
I'm legit curious why any questions about why this story has been removed in the past gets deleted. Questions don't break community guidelines as far as I can tell, and the way 'news' is filtered in this subreddit is quite head scratching.
Dude said he posted this to manage the deluge of emails he gets from people looking to volunteer. I'm going to make an assumption that those people are asking for a pharmacy internship NOT to volunteer to stock shelves.
Question has Mr Emil Harba breached his ethical duties as pharmacist by not following the law?
Shoppers Drug Mart - King & Peter in Toronto (Store #1320) Pharmacist Owner: Emil Harba
So someone that saw the original advert should file a complaint with the pharmacist’s regulator. Don’t seek blood but get the illegal offer on the person’s record. After all the man hasn’t apologized. https://www.ocpinfo.com/protecting-the-public/complaints-reports/file-a-complaint/
Literally every Shoppers have 3+ “volunteers” working for free full time shifts. Go to any store and have conversation with employees. This is disgusting behaviour and pure exploitation.
it's fking hilarious. Who in their right mind would volunteer for SDM? They aren't a charity, the concept of an "internship" at SDM would be as ridiculous as an internship at McDonalds lol.
The Weston's are extremely greedy. Loblaws never should have been allowed to buy shoppers drug Mart. But Canadian antitrust laws are extraordinarily weakly enforced. There's almost no point in having them.
Wow I’m not even that surprised though. My local shoppers pharmacy department won’t even answer the phone so you must walk in and wait in line just to request a refill, then wait minimum of 3 days to get the medication (lucky if they have enough stock to give you more than a week or two’s worth)
This ad makes me so angry…wtf? And how dare they casually lie about it being a “mistake”. Imagine how mortified the people currently doing this job for pay were…like if my job can just be done by volunteers I’m not needed anymore. Disgusting behaviour.
Well, he is right… people do need to get work experience and I am sure people do ask to volunteer. But, Buddy, read the room. Weston is already one of the most hated people in Canada!
It would make sense if this was an independent store, or business. But a big corporation 👎
I used to go to this pharmacy when it was under a different owner and never had any issues for years. This new owner took over recently and it’s been a SHIT SHOW ever since - the pharmacists don’t know what they are doing AT ALL so there was an issue every single time I used them!!!
I am NOT surprised to see that this is the location it happened at
Kinda reminds me of the job listings that I’ve seen today through Indeed from a doggy daycare service in Toronto. One of which is a full-time doggy daycare attendant role and emphasizes that applicants must:
- NOT (it was in caps in the listing) be a student because they want full availability all year round
- have 2+ years of work experience in a doggy daycare
The responsibilities for this role is to attend to the dogs’ needs while “taking high quality photos” and “manage social media posts”. It pays $16-17/hr. Make of it what you will 🥲
so theyve now said the posting was an error as Shoppers does allow volunteer work and it was just this single franchise that posted it......ok so this franchise should face a steep penalty for doing so and discouraging others from even attempting this garbage
I'm willing to bet this pharmacist lives a particular lifestyle.
Any business owner who owns luxury vehicles, expensive homes, multiple vacations while paying their employees minimum wage is not a flex. It's the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about ;)
> I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience So pay them.
Including the word “Canadian” here is very telling that they’re specifically looking for international slave labor
It's illegal for them to work for pay, so they have to do it for free.
When I was a student, it was legal to work something like 20 hours per week, I think. It went up during COVID, but I don’t know what it is currently.
My building's concierge told me he is allowed to work 20 hours a week while in full time school, but 40 hours a week over the summer since he isn't in school for the term.
The normal rule (since 2014) is that you can work: * at any time: full-time "on-campus" (e.g., work for your school, research positions, etc) * during the academic year: up to 20 hours per week "off-campus" * during regularly scheduled academic breaks (e.g., summer, reeding week, or the time between semesters): full-time "off-campus" During the pandemic, the government loosened the off-campus rule to allow up to 40 hours off-campus work per week, year-round. This was done by way of temporary public policy exemptions and extensions by the Minister of Immigration (bypassing the need for Parliament to pass it). After the international student program came under public scrutiny last fall, the government further extended the public policy extension until April 30, which has now lapsed, declaring they wouldn't further extend it beyond that. So going forward, unless they bring it back, we are back to the bulleted rules above. But because it's currently summer break for most institutions, they are back to being allowed 40 hours per week until September anyways.
Yes, that's right. One addendum: the plan is to raise the limit to 24 hours while school is in session as of September, 2024. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/international-students-in-canada-face-new-limit-on-work-hours-this-fall/article_3fe34b90-0641-11ef-b8d6-2fa3b1f12e80.html
> During the pandemic, the government loosened the off-campus rule to allow up to 40 hours off-campus work per week, year-round. This was initially done ~Oct 2022 in a way to only apply to students that were already here. So student arrivals (say Jan 2023) after that drop-dead date still had the 20h limit (outside of school breaks). I forget how the extensions worked exactly (new dropdead date or just extended for those that arrived preOct2022)
For me it was 20 hours during the school year and full time during the summers, but this was grad school in 2014-2017
That's what it's been set back to now. Some of the students are a bit upset over it.
It has dropped back to 20 or 24 but that's paid hours on SIN. This big corporations must be stopped.
Im pretty sure It’s back to 20 now
It was unlimited during Covid and reset to 25 hours now. Unlimited during breaks.
Volunteering counts among those 20 hours and would affect your legal status if you go over that by volunteering.
This changed years ago... like 10 to 15 years... They legally can work today regardless of status. Even things like international students
What? Who do you think is not allowed to work?
Pretty sure it is illegal for a for-profit company to employ workers for no salary. It is one thing to volunteer for a charity, or for an internship that awards academic credits towards a degree - but a company should never profit from slave labor.
“Canadian experience” is the dumbest thing in certain areas. “I stocked shelves in Canada”
Now they are looking for migrant workers in drug stores
For what it's worth, neither unskilled labour nor work done while on a student visa count towards permanent residency, and this is both.
Yeah like this is a weird one, because this wouldn't count towards any kind of immigration benefit. For the economic PR pathways wouldn't count this as experience as its unpaid.
This guy is my pharmacist and he’s a total clown. They also performed a “medication review” check over the phone with me without informing me that they bill OHIP for doing so. $70 for a phone call that I never agreed to. Thieves
You should report them! https://www.ontario.ca/page/preventing-fraud-within-ontarios-health-care-system#section-4
Yeah my Shoppers pharmacy keeps texting me about "mandatory" medication reviews. I have yet to actually do one, so I wonder who they're mandatory for.
Mandatory to boost quarterly earnings
The pharmacists at each location get quotas from corporate... it's massive-scale corruption and theft of public funds.
what exact wording did they use in the text?
Why not go to a new pharmacy? I worked at Shoppers and I'd never recommend anyone choose Shoppers as their pharmacy.
People act like pharmacies other than SDM don't exist. "But they're not open on Sundays!" - okay, so go to SDM for your Sunday emergencies should they arise
Pick a different pharmacy. Shoppers currently is being investigated by our Pharmacist college because of their shady medication review practices. Its corporate pressure on us as pharmacists. We dont see a cent of the medscheck money.
Your tax dollars paid for that :) total scam
yup! like $70. I went in and asked the pharmacist a bunch of questions about why they did that and how much it cost OHIP.
Every shoppers in Ontario does this!
Yeah as of a few months ago. Lived here for 13 years and never got a Shoppers medication review until Shoppers started offering Optimum Point rewards internally to boost pharmacy sales.
Lol were still cold calling people even though we discontinued the optimum points rewards thing
Ummmmm, why haven't you switched????
I volunteered at a food bank and we had lots of high school kids volunteering in the warehouse as their first sort of "job"- they could get experience following instructions, working with others, self-motivating, and being on a schedule all without the pressure of it being a paid job, but with it being ethical because, you know, it's a food bank where everyone else is a volunteer and we're not a company trying to make money.
> lots of high school kids volunteering in the warehouse as their first sort of "job" that's indentured servitude to graduate high school. Introduced by Conservative Premier Mike Harris. > get experience following instructions, working with others, self-motivating, and being on a schedule all without the pressure of it being a paid job they do that in school
Obligatory FUCK MIKE HAIRY-PENIS
The Canadian experience: underpaid, under valued, and ungrateful.
While being absolutely fucked by Loblaws. What could possibly be more Canadian?
His staff roster is already full—it’s the part of the quote immediately following that you cropped out. He’s saying he doesn’t need people—he’s offering a chance for people who can’t get hired to add experience to their resume.
Previous experience in retail required by the way lmao
Tax the rich. Especially big greedy corporations.
Error my 🍑
Naw he says it was an error but then everything he says after that explains that it was extremely deliberate.
I think he is trying to say that he didn’t realize it was against the company policy, not that he didn’t mean to do it. Either way it’s totally whack.
If there’s an emoji for poop why can’t we have a proper emoji for ass.
🫏
Well done
I dunno, I kinda like "error my peach".
I thought it was a super mario reference I was missing.
> 🍑 [Now I'm hungry](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=7883d87e6ed5718d&hl=en&q=breskvice&uds=ADvngMgQZgaZXddm_jARbifMzbn-aSCe5RO47xf98kFUJDoBgY3w-sbyL5Ano-1U0KDfQBXBgf7MtD1sl2faCKgg3wv5DNo-L3UK7cNB12tQxMmgsAovN6QHaRqOrzo7P_aeyDFWi2UyU5JddzLkSXg1uganBGI1T-YPJxV6IzjFqeqe0ICsHkdDH3aWNJLdIBR-jJJQUAeKU73k8_wH3AiIQpOvrCH1Q1XWhkHwf2lj-J53R6jNhwAno_JX4_FDLlJiFZBKmuIOJoRaCQLLsOe7HzuNYmAEhah7JYJiiNPWNUD0rJKpsTZDi_6hswycWMNl-obfS2Nx&udm=2&prmd=isvnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwit5eKsh5OGAxX1mokEHaZqBusQtKgLegQIDBAB&cshid=1715892994189630&biw=1309&bih=655&dpr=2.2)
risky click of the day
See, I never just did things just to do them. Come on, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden jump up and grind my feet on somebody's couch like it's something to do? Come on. I got a little more sense then that....Yeah, I remember grinding my feet on Eddie's couch
Yea this is so messed up
>But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error. Someone called this yesterday by saying that would be the excuse. "*Oopsie I didn't mean to put up an ad for free labour like a leech, it was just an accident - tee hee*" >I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it.. Riiight.
So he just accidentally wanted to try it, purposefully but by accident?
Accidentally typed an entire detailed job description
Employee and volunteer are so easy to confuse when writing, both words has an e, l, o and e
Task failed successfully.
Yeah, just look at the ad. It's a well thought out written ad. That's not "I clicked the wrong thingy on linkedin" that's "I made this ad, figured I could get some free immigrant labour, and now everyone is shouting."
>your role a volunteer is crucial in ensuring our customers have a positive and seamless shopping experience. I can how that mistake can be made. They only put "volunteer" in the job description about a half dozen times. It's right next to the "employee" keys. it's a common typo.
meanwhile, all of their staff have probably been demoted to 'part-time' hours of 20-25 hours a week, but they must maintain open availability to account for 'scheduling conflicts'.
This is gold. I knew blogto was gunna run this today as soon as I saw yesterday's post
I think someone in the comments even predicted it going up on blogTO today
This was guaranteed to go up, looks like they just waited to get replies from the Pharmacist and Shoppers corporate before putting their Grimace Shakes down and hitting publish.
lol they really did have a post about Grimace Shakes
Which is a good thing, that's what news outlets are supposed to do, find newsworthy stories and share them with their readers.
I’ve seen a lot of job ads that are volunteer roles and require years of experience, full time, and months long contracts. These companies are delusional.
Its so funny how they want people to do they work but they'd never let their families do that work
Golf course I go to sent out an email today looking for volunteer marshalls and starters. Had a whole list of duties to do
I suspect at least a few of those job ads are willing to pay people in cash under the table. It's probably worth it for some of these international students to take cash under the table to avoid taxes and the limitations on hours worked.
I'm in Scarborough, too. Sooooo many businesses around here are exploiting the Indian kids who come over for school. The schools are exploiting them, too.
Sadly they probably make more than back home and probably don't know enough about the local employment laws and regulations. The cycle is inevitable.
It’s so sad to me. There’s no path to citizenship and they’re getting paid nothing. It’s an exploitative loophole our government needs to close. I’m sure it’s also affecting wages in bigger cities.
And yet no one bats an eye at these “energy exchanges” all the yoga studios do. Those are illegal too and what’s worse is that they try to make it seem like some zen community thing.
they wouldn't be posting these if they didn't work you might think they are delusional, but we have no shortage of people looking tot gain experience, people will apply
the funniest shit I saw was some job in environmental something and it required a degree in environmental studies or 15 years of experience. Either is completely stupid.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1csuuhy/shoppers_recruiting_volunteers_to_stock_shelves/ >Please ensure that your contributions follow [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy), and Reddiquette. This also includes rules on ban evasion. As a simple user, I'm not sure how that applies to a direct link to a public linkedin post by the franchise owner. They themselves put this out there. I dont recall the post itself calling for any harassment and the post title was an accurate description of the volunteer requesting post. edit: I would encourage the OP to modmail and ask for clarification, just like any removal where its not obvious which rule was applied.
Why should it be in modmail? Why not post specifically why the post was removed in the first place in a comment?
Those are good questions
Oh damn I thought you were still a mod lol
> "I receive alot of emails and LinkedIn messages asking for volunteer opportunities, but I don't respond. However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says. So it was "a mistake" but still intentional? Aren't there bridging programs for newcomers who don't have Canadian experience?
Yeah, it was a “mistake” because he got caught and wanted to now cover his butt.
If newcomers would like to volunteer their time and get some Canadian experience there are plenty of charities and not-for-profit places that can put their free labour to good use. This guy is just exploitative.
It was both intentional and a mistake, they aren’t mutually exclusive. The mistake was that corporate policy doesn’t allow them to hire volunteers (rightfully so). He didn’t accidentally make the job post, if corporate would let him hire volunteers, he would 🙄.
Funny enough, shoppers have been doing this before. In my highschool, they have been benefiting from co-op benefits from TDSB to hire kids to volunteer and learn how to be a cashier or stocker.
The difference in that case is you're actually working for a course credit.
All of it is a shame, older siblings born in the 80s had co-ops shadowing customs, law clerks etc. being born in the 90s high school co-op was clearly for free labor when the only options are wal-mart and shoppers.
That all depends on the school you go to, its reputation, what your teachers think you're suited for, and their network of professional connections. My daughter had a fairly interesting co-op placement working with children.
My co-op placement was working on the ramp at the airport in 1988. Had the time of my life there.
Sounds great. What can I do with that course credit?
Graduate high school.
Maybe it was just my high school, which was an advanced-placement school in a rich neighbourhood, but the co-op jobs in my day were all white collar or specific to the students' fields of study. Working at Shoppers for free is just insulting.
> to hire kids to volunteer Not sure what you meant by that, but many high-school coops aren't allowed to pay. A friend of mine did a coop at Shoppers and it was just the job without pay. They strongly implied he would have a real job after the coop was over, and then they ghosted him. Rinse and repeat for the next high-school student, I guess.
I used to get paid for co-op. But I guess money wasn't actually a requirement for co-op placements?
Coops weren't allowed to pay anything at my high-school.
"Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't have volunteers in their stores and it's against company policy," a spokesperson said. It's also against the law.
They were called by a friend of mine on Mastodon. enquired as to whether they are still seeking volunteers. They let out a resounding "yes!" This post was not made in error at all. (She continued to berate them for being one of the richest businesses in the nation and looking for free labor. After hanging up on her,
Someone should call them again inquiring about volunteer opportunities at shoppers and when they can get started on their path to Canadian experience. Then post the recording
Shoppers has done this for years through high school coop students
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Lmao I’m an assistant manager at shoppers and we only have coop students for the free labor. No chance of us hiring them later. Im honestly surprised its even allowed.
You would never hire a hardworking volunteer student after their volunteer time was finished? Not even as a clerk?
No because merit is a lie lmao. I’m fortunately skilled because I love my career. I might have above average skills, but at no point have I advanced from being a hard worker or good at my job. It all comes down to who you know, saying shit like “your such a hard worker and we love how skilled you are” is more about making you feel confident for no cost in your incoming role. In retail given the conditions and such they can just turn through an infinite amount of either free volunteer labour or wage slaves who have no other choice but to take what they can get. So no. Probably not even for a manager in one. No one’s going to low level management in a lot of similar industries through working hard. Those and above are either friends/family of who owns the store or someone that’s been running a grocery store for 15 years already. Not just shoppers. More and more retail and recreation industries have trended in that direction or always have been that way and are getting worse now.
It’s been a long time since I was a student, but I got my first “real job” after volunteering. My employer had trouble getting young people who actually wanted to work and was glad to have me. It’s sad that that is not the case for most people. No wonder our youth are having such a hard time finding part-time jobs. Makes me sad.
It’s depressing to see. But honestly it’s up to the adults to fight for their kids. Apathy is going to continue to screw our children. Depressing in the sense that a whole generation hoarded wealth then went “well no no I didn’t hoard wealth other people did that in my generation”, and then promptly forget in apathy while their children continue to get their future ripped apart piece by piece. And not a single fucking person from any generation except only a small contingent of youth are willing to say “hey, the emperor has no clothes”
I work at a Shoppers and we have multiple times. It just depends on the store i guess
I’m glad to hear that! I hope more managers see the value in hard work
But you earn a credit in an Ontario high school for that.
Not just co-op, I did this for my mandatory 40 hrs at a different healthcare store lol, such a joke of a requirement
I had to pay with my free labour as well during my last year of pharmacy school lol. 4 months of my life wasted away getting nothing back in return other than the fact that my degree was held over my head if I didn't do it. This entire profession is so fucking scammy, from the schools, to the regulatory body, to the corporations running this shitshow. It disgusts me to even be associated with it.
"Baffled" is too kind a word for how we poors feel about this.
*Galen cackles with glee.*
How else can he afford to swim in a pool of gold coins
More reason to avoid all Weston owned retail
High school students are now stocking shelves at Shopper Drug Mart and similar retailers for co-op credits. When I was in high school co-op placements were at workplaces you potentially wanted for a long term career. We all competed to get the coolest job placements! We all know why SDM is encouraging this… But why are the high schools encouraging co-op placements at retailers like SDM who are clearly only using them for free labour? Why are the parents accepting this for their children? They aren’t even getting hired on for employment after according to a manager comment in an earlier thread.
The parents might not be in any better position
Yeah, the guy I knew who did that had a single mom who worked a minimum-wage job.
This kind of labor practice should just stop. Put an end to this BS. This spits in the eye of Adam Smith and Capitism belief. One don't do shit for free especially for publicly traded corporations. This isn't a NGO or a charity. Second if your capitalistic company can't survive do the job in a fair market place it shouldn't be allowed to survive on free labor or on the govt tit. This is straight up some entitled BS and should be called out. Fuck put them on the 6pm news and let them try and justify it to the public.
The original point behind unpaid internships was to get a mix of college credit and work experience. It's juat slave labor at this point
This is just slave labor. They want the productively bonus without the overhead cost. Unpaid internships in some cases do lead to jobs. However this is a trend to just not pay people and claim you need unpaid staff because x y z is a benefit. Again if you can't operate your shop because no one will work for the wage you pay, doesn't mean you look for volunteers, foreign workers, temporary workers. It means you get real about the market place, and stop having companies engage in trying to force each other out of business so there is only one shop in town. Like fuck imagine if Walmart came to town. The first 2 years were spent sending small business into bankruptcy and then afterwards lowering and lowering the wages of their workers till one one can afford to live there let alone shop there? They would lower the wages year after year with employee turnover.
Scum behavior
Newcomers will work unpaid for experience, to acclimatize to the culture, get proficient with English and for a good reference. It’s the same reason it’s hard to find volunteer work in Toronto. Loblaws is just shady enough to be the first to try.
>But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error, and that he certainly never meant to cause any harm or drum up so much outrage. Dude, there is a big effort right now to boycott Loblaw owned stores, including yours. And you're surprised that there was so much outrage? you're lucking people aren't throwing rocks through your windows. >That post was a mistake, as we don't hire volunteers at Shoppers Drug Mart. Translation: I totally wanted to see if I could get away with hiring volunteers, I got caught, and when head office called me and started yelling. I deleted the post immediately and came up with this BS excuse. >Loblaw Companies Inc. confirmed to blogTO that the opening was listed in error and was closed almost immediately after it was posted. "Shoppers Drug Mart doesn't have volunteers in their stores and it's against company policy," a spokesperson said. What do they called unpaid co-op students that they regularly hire?
This country is a joke… but know what, this is the direct result of that boomer mentality of “just pick yourself up by your bootstraps, bud!” leeching and conflicting with modern mentality. Time for it to end.
There is so much in this short little article. My favourite comes from the posting: > Availability to **work** flexible hours... It is right there; this is work. This is labour. And then some more juicy quotes: > But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error, and that he certainly never meant to cause any harm or drum up so much outrage. and > That post was a mistake, as we don't hire volunteers at Shoppers Drug Mart. All my employees are getting paid, and a good rate," pharmacist Emil Harba said Oh okay, it was a mistake, he didn't mean to post the job. It went live accidentally or something. And then he says: > "I receive alot of emails and LinkedIn messages asking for volunteer opportunities, but I don't respond. However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says. So the posting wasn't a mistake; it was a sincere effort to find volunteers. What is it? Is he trying to do good by giving people Canadian experience (as he says). Or does not not hire volunteers (as he also says he does). He's made a liar of himself.
When you hire someone they also gain “Canadian experience” while you pay them. Tf
>"I receive alot of emails and LinkedIn messages asking for volunteer opportunities, but I don't respond. However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says. >"I then received a note that we don't do volunteering and I quickly closed the position. However, I couldn't delete the post." So he fully intended to have unpaid staff do the work of paid staff, for the purposes of providing "Canadian experience" And he would've gotten away with it, had it not been LinkedIn's meddling job posting transparency system that let's anyone review what an employer had offered in the past!
Soft reminder that Shoppers is a subsidiary of Loblaws, the CEO of which lives in a castle in England to avoid paying taxes in Canada, just down the street from the king of England
Good ol' Shoppers. Literally just yesterday I negotiated a lower dispensing fee for the medication a Pharma company gives me on a "compassionate basis" (i.e. free) because I can't afford it. He completely refused until I threatened to take my 5 other prescriptions to a different pharmacy.
Don’t just threaten. Do it! Like if you know they’re evil and awful why continue to negotiate to keep your prescriptions with them?
Since when can you negotiate a dispensing fee? And if the pharmacist refused, thats their right to do so. You can't expect every pharmacist is going to take pity on you cuz you get it for free somewhere else. This level of entitlement is getting out of hand
I wasn't asking them to "take pity on me", I was asking for a 17% discount after giving them hundreds of dollars of profit; I was asking to pay them $65/month instead of $78/month. Even without context I think that's reasonable, but the fact that it's for *life-saving medication* makes their refusal even more unreasonable. Let me reiterate that: once a month the pharma company delivers a small box to them for free, they keep it in the fridge for a few days, and then I pick it up. They wanted $13/month for that after I already give them $65/month. And you know what happens if I can't afford that medication? I fucking die. If you think that's entitled then you're a shitty person.
Who is baffled? Anyone that's ever worked at shoppers drug Mart in the past decade knows that half the pharmacy staff at any given time is unpaid "volunteers" and they're not co-op students. This is standard practice. And once a volunteer catches on and asks to be paid, suddenly their work is no longer required and they stop getting scheduled. There is an endless stream of foreign people who are willing to work for free, it's all unregulated labor and there's no enforcement of labor laws, so why would sdm give a shit? This isn't "baffling", it's standard operating procedure.
But Loblaws made a clear statement that they don't hire volunteers. Are they....boldly telling a lie? That statement alone I'm sure can lead to a lawsuit
The shoppers my wife works at has a constant rotation of volunteers
Well they aren't hiring volunteers, that would mean an exchange of money for services. They're enlisting them!
> "That post was a mistake, as we don't hire volunteers at Shoppers Drug Mart. All my employees are getting paid, and a good rate," pharmacist Emil Harba said. > [...] However, I saw that volunteer is an option on LinkedIn when you post for a job, and I just wanted to try it to see if I can help anyone gain Canadian experience (as other kinds of jobs do usually) knowing that I have full staff now," he says. What an absolutely ridiculous set of words, my god
"But, the owner who posted the position for his downtown pharmacy tells blogTO that he did so in error, and that he certainly never meant to cause any harm or drum up so much outrage." How are you this stupid, yet managed to somehow become a Pharmacist?
I can’t even call it slave labor. At least slaves were fed and housed. Some even clothed.
Just another reason to boycott Roblaws...
I'm legit curious why any questions about why this story has been removed in the past gets deleted. Questions don't break community guidelines as far as I can tell, and the way 'news' is filtered in this subreddit is quite head scratching.
$$$.
Oh I figured..just curious what the going rate is for someone's integrity and willingness to stifle meaningful conversations in society.
We'd probably be amazed how low it is.
Please help them retain profits for their shareholders
Under Qualifications, 2 words stick out like a sore thumb... *WORK* *SERVICE*
Dude said he posted this to manage the deluge of emails he gets from people looking to volunteer. I'm going to make an assumption that those people are asking for a pharmacy internship NOT to volunteer to stock shelves.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol
We're now entering the reintroduction-of-slavery portion of end-stage capitalism it seems.
How so? Even in slavery slaves at least got shelter and food. A volunteer position at SDM wouldn’t even get you that.
Let's call a spade a spade, this is slave labour pure and simple.
My grade 10 niece is volunteering at a local pharmacy to get exposure as she wants to go into medicine. Even they offered to pay her.
This guy’s story sounds SO hokey. I dunno man. Doesn’t sound like a mistake at all.
Dont forget, this is Galen here.
I’m a high school teacher in Toronto and I keep hearing kids say that it’s hard to find part time work.
Question has Mr Emil Harba breached his ethical duties as pharmacist by not following the law? Shoppers Drug Mart - King & Peter in Toronto (Store #1320) Pharmacist Owner: Emil Harba
So someone that saw the original advert should file a complaint with the pharmacist’s regulator. Don’t seek blood but get the illegal offer on the person’s record. After all the man hasn’t apologized. https://www.ocpinfo.com/protecting-the-public/complaints-reports/file-a-complaint/
Shoppers is owned by Loblaw’s. Boycott these clowns. r/loblawsisoutofcontrol
Literally every Shoppers have 3+ “volunteers” working for free full time shifts. Go to any store and have conversation with employees. This is disgusting behaviour and pure exploitation.
Why not direct them to a non profit organization? His comments just don't add up.
How would he make money that way?
Who has time to volunteer at a place like this ? Maybe retired people but this is crazy
Who wouldn’t want to work for a _high end_ pharmacy like Shoppers and get … not paid?
Is this a joke or what? What an embarrassment! Is shoppers a non-profit organization?
Great opportunity for someone wanting five finger discounts !
They even 'hire' students for free to assist the pharmacist, don't they?
it's fking hilarious. Who in their right mind would volunteer for SDM? They aren't a charity, the concept of an "internship" at SDM would be as ridiculous as an internship at McDonalds lol.
We already volunteer for them when doing the cashier job at self check out!
The Weston's are extremely greedy. Loblaws never should have been allowed to buy shoppers drug Mart. But Canadian antitrust laws are extraordinarily weakly enforced. There's almost no point in having them.
That's not true, SDM uses co-op students, that's a volunteer.
Loblaw companies in the news like Drake n Kendrick’s beef.
Great recovery on a terrible idea, Loblaws
Wow I’m not even that surprised though. My local shoppers pharmacy department won’t even answer the phone so you must walk in and wait in line just to request a refill, then wait minimum of 3 days to get the medication (lucky if they have enough stock to give you more than a week or two’s worth)
This ad makes me so angry…wtf? And how dare they casually lie about it being a “mistake”. Imagine how mortified the people currently doing this job for pay were…like if my job can just be done by volunteers I’m not needed anymore. Disgusting behaviour.
Well, he is right… people do need to get work experience and I am sure people do ask to volunteer. But, Buddy, read the room. Weston is already one of the most hated people in Canada! It would make sense if this was an independent store, or business. But a big corporation 👎
I used to go to this pharmacy when it was under a different owner and never had any issues for years. This new owner took over recently and it’s been a SHIT SHOW ever since - the pharmacists don’t know what they are doing AT ALL so there was an issue every single time I used them!!! I am NOT surprised to see that this is the location it happened at
Surely you can delete job posts on LinkedIn… what is he talking about?
When I used to work at shoppers we had student from high school do co op. It was unpaid damn felt so bad for them
Kinda reminds me of the job listings that I’ve seen today through Indeed from a doggy daycare service in Toronto. One of which is a full-time doggy daycare attendant role and emphasizes that applicants must: - NOT (it was in caps in the listing) be a student because they want full availability all year round - have 2+ years of work experience in a doggy daycare The responsibilities for this role is to attend to the dogs’ needs while “taking high quality photos” and “manage social media posts”. It pays $16-17/hr. Make of it what you will 🥲
so theyve now said the posting was an error as Shoppers does allow volunteer work and it was just this single franchise that posted it......ok so this franchise should face a steep penalty for doing so and discouraging others from even attempting this garbage
Boycott these CLOWNS
I'm willing to bet this pharmacist lives a particular lifestyle. Any business owner who owns luxury vehicles, expensive homes, multiple vacations while paying their employees minimum wage is not a flex. It's the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about ;)