'There is no indication that the employer's actions interfered with the union's exercise of its bargaining agency'
An Alberta labour board has ruled that Sobeys did not violate labour law by banning union campaign buttons from the workplace and investigating three employees.
In an addendum decision issued April 13, 2026, Alberta Labour Relations Board vice-chair William Armstrong found that the grocery store chain stayed within legal bounds when it prohibited so-called "Second Buttons" worn by employees during an active wage reopener campaign by United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401.
The ruling is an addendum to an earlier board decision, 2024 ALRB 4, issued Jan. 10, 2024. Following that decision, the union applied to the Court of King's Bench for judicial review. In a decision dated Dec. 11, 2025, the court identified a gap in the original ruling: while the board had correctly identified section 148(1)(a)(ii) of the Code as the relevant provision at the outset, it had then conducted its analysis under a different subsection — section 148(1)(a)(i) — and never made findings under section 148(1)(a)(ii), which was the actual basis of the Union's complaint.
The court remitted that specific issue back to the board while rejecting the union's other arguments. The matter was returned to the original panel for that determination.
The dispute arose after UFCW Local 401 planned to have employees wear the buttons at work during...
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