Negotiations are coming down to the wire between Loblaw and Unifor as a strike looms at 11 supermarkets in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The union and company have been in talks for eight months, but Unifor president Jerry Dias says as the hours pass, it becomes clearer that strike action may be inevitable.

The union says Dominion stores eliminated 60 full-time positions—approximately one in five full-time jobs. Today, more than 80 per cent of the remaining workers are part-time, with more than half earning less than $12 an hour, according to Dias.

The approximately 1,400 frontline workers at Dominion Stores have been working without a contract since last October, and have not received a wage increase since the spring of 2018.

The original strike deadline was at 12:01 a.m., Friday, July 31.