LCBO employees and alcohol buyers adjust as strike begins

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The first two weeks of July will be hot and humid, while the LCBO forecast calls for dry weather for the next 14 days.

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For the first time in the state-owned company’s history, 9,000 LCBO workers went on strike and 685 stores across the province were closed when talks with the province and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) broke down Thursday evening.

LCBO stores will remain closed for 14 days until an agreement is reached. If the strike lasts longer than two weeks, the LCBO will open 32 stores with reduced hours three days a week – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Online ordering systems will remain available.

Outside an LCBO location on Danforth Avenue, just east of Victoria Park Avenue, about 40 pickets lined up on the first day of the strike and were greeted by pedestrians and motorists with honks and high fives for their labor action.

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Janice Ariza, secretary of OPSEU Local 5111 and a temporary employee, said her fight is not about wages. Rather, it is about job security.

“I was optimistic, but last night (Thursday) I was close to tears because we were forced to strike for the first time in the history of the LCBO,” Ariza said.

“It’s not about wages. It’s about securing good jobs and supporting communities across generations,” she added.

The LCBO generates approximately $2.5 billion in public funds each year, which are used to finance hospitals, education and community programs.

Danielle, who is from Newfoundland and Labrador, says there are no liquor or beer stores in her home province – residents get their booze from the corner store.

She said she is not an alcohol drinker but supports the right of LCBO workers to strike.

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“I believe in what they are fighting for”

“I believe in what they are fighting for. So thumbs up to them and I hope they get what they are looking for,” she said.

Sylvie drove into the LCBO parking lot with her husband on Friday, unaware of the strike. An LCBO employee informed her of the details.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous and I don’t blame them for going on strike,” she said, adding that she would go to the nearby Wine Rack or Metro grocery store in hopes of buying her favorite Chilean wine.

On Thursday evening, Colleen MacLeod, chair of the OPSEU bargaining committee, said job security was paramount as Ontario’s Conservative government moves forward with a plan to introduce liquor into corner stores, potentially eliminating jobs at LCBOs in the future.

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Speaking to reporters Thursday evening, MacLeod said: “LCBO workers are ready to make history. Tonight marks the start of (Prime Minister Doug) Ford’s dry summer.”

A worker who was striking outside a store on the corner of Danforth and Victoria Park Avenue in Scarborough said she had been involved in union talks in the past and wages had not even been discussed.

She said her East York LCBO hangout on Coxwell Ave. near O’Connor Dr. looked like something you’d see at Christmas on Friday, as people jammed the store to stock up on alcohol – many likely expecting more than a 14-day strike.

At the nearby Metro grocery store in Shoppers World Danforth, shelves were packed with beer and wine, and customers bumped into their shopping carts as they loaded up their wine baskets.

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