About 1,400 unionized workers at 11 Dominion grocery stores in Newfoundland have gone on strike after rejecting a contract offer from parent company Loblaw Cos.

“There were gains in some areas but in the end the monetary offer fell short,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said in a statement. “Last month Dominion clawed back $2 an hour pandemic pay from their workers then offered just half of that back over the entire life of the three-year contract.”

Members of Unifor Local 597 began striking at 10:01 p.m. Saturday. The workers haven’t received a pay increase since spring of 2018 and have been without a contract since October, according to the union. Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector and represents 315,000 workers.

“In July, after months of discussions we reached a tentative agreement with the local union, one that we all believed to be fair, addressing important areas for our team,” Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said Sunday in an emailed statement. “We are disappointed that this agreement was not accepted by our colleagues, despite being recommended by their union.”