THUNDER BAY — Nearly 200 LCBO employees across the region are preparing to hit the picket lines Friday morning if a deal with the province is not reached by midnight.
More than 10,000 LCBO workers across the province represented by the Ontario Public Services Employees Union voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action with a deadline of midnight on Thursday.
Talks between the union and province are continuing, but local members were busy Thursday afternoon at the local OPSEU office getting picket signs ready.
The LCBO employs approximately 140 people across five locations and the warehouse in Thunder Bay, with approximately 180 total employees across the Northwest region.
Mo Marsonet, vice-president of Local 741 of the Liquor Board Employees Division of OPSEU, said none of the members want to be on strike.
“We are hoping we get a good deal for all of Ontario,” she said. “We want to maintain good health care and good infrastructure for the province and the profits from the sale of alcohol in Ontario from the LCBO goes directly back into Ontario coffers.
"We want to keep that and we hope other people do too.”
The main areas of contention in bargaining include wage increases and more full-time jobs, as well as concerns over Premier Doug Ford’s plan to allow all grocery stores and convenience stores to sell more alcohol products.
“We want to expand with Ontario,” Marsonet said. “We know people want more convenience and we want more convenience, too but we want to be providing the convenience. We want to expand hours, expand locations, which would mean more jobs for LCBO employees.”
The LCBO brings in more than $2.5 billion in sales per year, which goes directly back to the province.
Crystal Herman, treasurer of LBED Local 741, said Ford’s plans to expand the sale of alcohol to other locations will not only eat into that annual profit, it will also result in lost jobs across the province.
“They want to have 8,500 locations open by the end of this year. That is alarming. That is a lot of sales that will be taken from us, as Ontarians, from our health care, our roads, our schools, and into the hands of big business and stakeholders there,” she said.
“We want to keep our funds here. We are willing to expand and there are ways we can do that, extended hours, we could do convenience outlets. And we want to support good jobs and keep them in our communities.”
Marsonet added that smaller LCBO locations throughout the region could be particularly hard hit by alcohol being sold in more locations.
“With privatizing these alcohol sales, it really affects the stores in the region because these are small stores, so they would probably be the first to go,” she said. “That’s a frightening prospect.”
If a deal is not reached by midnight Thursday, all LCBO employees will be on strike and all locations across the province will be closed for two weeks. After that period, 30 stores will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with limited hours until the strike ends.
Marsonet and Herman said they do not know if any locations in Thunder Bay will be among the 30 to be opened after the 14-day period.
Locally, a picket line would be set up at the Thunder Centre location Friday morning and expand from there.
