Union: LCBO workers go on strike as talks with Crown Corporation fail

LCBO stores across Ontario will close tomorrow after talks between the government-owned company and the union representing its workers broke down Thursday night, just hours before the midnight strike deadline.

“LCBO workers are ready to make history…more than 9,000 LCBO workers will go on strike starting at noon,” Colleen MacLeod, chair of the OPSEU bargaining committee, said at a news conference Thursday.

The biggest sticking point, Ms. MacLeod said this follows the latest decision by Ontario Premier Doug Ford to allow the sale of alcohol in convenience stores and large supermarkets starting in September, particularly ready-to-drink beverages such as coolers.

“If we had dealt with the employer and not the premier, we certainly could have avoided this strike,” she said. “We have a ghost at the table in the form of the premier … Doug is forcing a dry summer on Ontario.”

In a written statement, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the government was disappointed by OPSEU’s decision to leave the negotiating table a few hours before the deadline.

“We are particularly disappointed that OPSEU is opposed to allowing Ontario residents to purchase ready-to-drink beverages like coolers and seltzer in grocery and convenience stores,” the statement said. “We call on OPSEU to return to the negotiating table and work toward an agreement that puts Ontario consumers and producers first.”

In a statement last month, LCBO announced that all stores would be closed for two weeks due to a strike while they adjust to a new operating model. Customers can continue to shop online and at 2,300 private retailers across Ontario, including grocery stores, wineries and distilleries, beer stores and small general stores licensed to sell alcohol. After two weeks, a few dozen stores will reopen for shopping on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with limited hours.

Michael Bathurst, who was buying wine at a midtown Toronto LCBO before the strike, said he would have been even more panicked by the news if he was a heavy drinker and there were fewer alternatives to the LCBO than in the past. “A few years ago I would have been nervous if it got to this point – now not so much, I think it’s going to be OK,” Bathurst said.

Ian Lee, a union researcher at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, said the increasing privatization of alcohol sales has weakened unions’ bargaining power.

“Unlike the other striking unions that have bargaining power, OPSEU has much less power – in fact, a strike could reduce its power even further if the Ontario government accelerates the decision to open sales to grocery stores and corner shops,” Lee said.

The Ontario provincial government said privatizing alcohol sales would create 8,500 new alcohol outlets in the province and that the LCBO would act as a wholesaler, with its revenue potentially increasing by as much as $1 billion. But the Globe previously learned that wholesale work for the new outlets has already been awarded to private company Trillium Supply Chain Services, which is owned by DHL.

Ms MacLeod said the move would have a serious impact on the LCBO’s revenue, citing the $2.5 billion in profits the state-owned company makes each year.

“Prime Minister Ford is trying to sell us a bad deal that gives a larger share of the alcohol market to large grocers and convenience chains like Loblaws and Circle K,” Ms. MacLeod said in a press conference on June 18. “This puts at risk hundreds of millions of dollars in public revenue that funds public services like health care and education.”

Pay and job security were also major points of contention, given that 70 percent of the workforce is currently made up of casual workers. Ms MacLeod had previously told The Globe that full-time workers – typically after years as casual workers – start out earning $16.75 an hour, while top earners could get $30.57 after nine years.

“LCBO workers have a right to job security, a living wage and fair treatment,” said Stephen Blais, MP for Orleans and Ontario Liberal critic for jobs and job training, in a press statement. “We know OPSEU workers are at the bargaining table and ready to negotiate a fair deal. The government must do the same.”

LCBO workers have always managed to reach an agreement before the strike deadline without going on strike – including four times in the last twenty years.