Ontario liquor store employees hit the picket lines Friday for the first-ever strike in the Crown corporation’s history, with LCBO stores expected to be closed for the next two weeks.
Striking workers gathered outside closed LCBO stores across the province, carrying signs and chanting slogans.
Natasha St. John, who was picketing in north Toronto, said she’s on strike to protect good-paying jobs that allow LCBO workers to support their families.
“We really don’t want Ontario to have a dry summer, but we’re willing to give up a couple weeks if it means we get to secure our jobs for a few more years,” St. John said.
More than 9,000 workers walked off the job just after midnight Friday following a breakdown in negotiations between the LCBO and Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) that failed to produce a new contract.
The workers are seeking wage increases and more full-time jobs, saying part-time and casual roles have become 70 per cent of their workforce. The union also opposes part of the province’s plan to open up the alcohol market to allow convenience stores and all grocery stores to sell beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails, such as White Claws.
St. John said she’s worked for the past six years as a casual — a class of employee whose work hours aren’t always guaranteed and who are paid on a lower pay scale than permanent, full-time employees.
LCBO workers across the province hit the picket lines on Friday after talks between the Crown corporation and its employees broke down just hours before the deadline. Representatives blamed Doug Ford’s government for the breakdown, expressing concern that thousands of jobs would be lost due to the government’s expansion plans for alcohol sales. Bargaining chair Colleen MacLeod described the premier as a “ghost” at the bargaining table.
Many casual employees have to work two jobs to make a living, St. John said, and some have to work for five to 10 years before transitioning to a permanent position.
“As much fun as we’re having out here, just because of who we are, we don’t want to be out here. We want to be back in our stores. We want to be working,” said St. John.
Union leaders say the main sticking point in negotiations is the expansion of alcohol sales, particularly in the fast-growing sector of ready-to-drink cocktails.
They argue the move will eat into the $2.5 billion the LCBO contributes annually to provincial coffers, lead to job losses and store closures, and transfer money that could be used for public services such as health care and education to private corporations.
“We know that Ontario values the LCBO and we cannot trade that off for our profits, Ontario’s profits, to go into the hands of large CEO[s], grocers, billionaires and Doug Ford’s friends,” Colleen MacLeod, chair of OPSEU’s bargaining committee, said at a picket line in downtown Toronto Friday.
A previous alcohol sales expansion under the former Liberal government that put beer and wine in some grocery stores kept sales of spirits in the hands of the LCBO. And until recently, Ford’s plan to further expand access did not include spirits.
OPSEU president J. P. Hornick said the union is not opposing Ford fulfilling his 2018 election promise to put beer and wine in corner stores, but OPSEU wants to keep the ready-to-drink cocktails out of those locations.
Figures provided by the government show LCBO revenue and the money it paid to the Ontario government both rose steadily between 2015 and 2023, even as alcohol sales expanded to more retail stores and bars and restaurants were allowed to sell alcohol for take-out and delivery.
The figures also show the sale of ready-to-drink beverages made up 9.1 per cent of all LCBO sales last year.
The Convenience Industry Council of Canada said research it commissioned showed extending alcohol sales to Ontario convenience stores would create hundreds of jobs, spur investment and contribute significant annual tax revenue to the federal and provincial governments.
“It is unfortunate that OPSEU leadership are afraid of competition and are fighting for a closed, restrictive market with fewer options for consumers,” CICC president Anne Kothawala said in a statement Friday.
More than 9,000 Ontario liquor store employees are on strike after bargaining talks broke down between their union and the LCBO. As CBC’s Mike Crawley explains, the union is demanding Doug Ford’s government reverse its decision to sell some drinks at convenience and grocery stores.
Andrew Moore, who was picketing Friday in Hamilton, Ont., said he was heartened by supportive drivers who honked their horns as they passed by. Beyond the potential loss of LCBO revenue, Moore said he’s upset about work going to non-union employees.
“We’re not really asking for money … we were just looking for job security and they couldn’t guarantee us anything we were asking for,” Moore said.
In a statement on Thursday, the LCBO urged the union to return to the bargaining table.
The LCBO also said the union’s leadership had made it clear that it would strike “solely over their demand that the government reverse its decision to have ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages (coolers and seltzers) being available in convenience and grocery stores.”
It said casual employees have access to benefits and half of them are guaranteed at least 1,000 hours of work annually.
In an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics on Friday, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfavly said his Progressive Conservative party campaigned to expand alcohol sales in the past two elections in which it won majority governments.
“We’ve had stakeholders say … they’ve been waiting decades for this opportunity and this is going to help, you know, small businesses, that consumers have been asking for this convenience and choice,” Bethlenfalvy said.
The LCBO says all of its 680 stores will close to individual consumers for 14 days, unless a deal is reached during that period. The LCBO website and mobile app will continue to accept orders for free home delivery during the strike.
If the strike goes on past two weeks, the LCBO said it will open 32 stores three days a week, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with limited hours.
Five stores in key locations will open on July 5th for restaurant, bar and other licensee customers only.
Alcohol continues to be available at grocery stores, private wineries, breweries and distilleries, as well as bars, restaurants and The Beer Store.
