Workers of a makeup retailer across Canada have Kamloops employees to thank for a new, worker-friendly policy. Sephora employees are required to have their bags searched at the end of daily shifts before they are allowed to leave, but the new policy states the company will now pay them for the entire time it takes management to check their bags, including wait times, UFCW 1518 announced in a press release. The change is being implemented company-wide after workers at the Kamloops Sephora store in Aberdeen Mall — the chain’s only unionized store — spoke out against the policy with their union, UFCW 1518, and asked for paid bag checks during negotiations with Sephora. The new policy began at the Kamloops location on Feb. 9. UFCW 1518 President Kim Novak said they heard from their union members of situations where they were waiting up to 30 minutes for a bag check after they had clocked out. “They weren’t getting paid for this time, even though they were still on the employer’s watch. It was unfair, and we’re glad to see that Sephora is taking steps to build a more respectful workplace,” Novak said in the release. Employees at the Kamloops Sephora unionized with UFCW 1518 in the summer of 2022. They entered bargaining to secure their first collective agreement shortly after joining the union and are still in negotiations. “We have no doubt that the improved bag check policy is the result of our members unionizing and raising their voices,” Novak said. Sephora has 100 locations across Canada.
