LCBO strike would be 1st in Ontario liquor store's history

If history is any indication, unionized LCBO workers will not walk off the job on July 5 when they are due to be in a legal strike position.

Ontario drinkers have seen this movie many times before: the union presents a strong strike vote in the opening scene, the drama mounts as bargaining goes down to the wire and ultimately there's a happy ending, with a contract agreement and without a strike.  

But will there be a big plot twist in this summer's version?

The Ford government's plan to allow all grocery and convenience stores to sell beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails starting this summer looms large over the negotiations between the LCBO and the roughly 9,000 workers represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU). 

"Premier Ford is trying to sell us a bad deal, one that hands over more of the alcohol market to big grocers and convenience chains like Loblaws and Circle K," said Colleen MacLeod, chair of OPSEU'S Liquor Board Employees Division, during a news conference this week. 

MacLeod says the union wants "strong" job-security provisions in the collective agreement. The union brings a hefty strike mandate to the table, with members voting 97 per cent in favour of job action if a deal isn't reached by July 5. 

"The strike vote got our employer's attention and we're hoping that they'll actually bargain with us," said MacLeod. "We're hoping to get to a deal." 

Over the years, unionized LCBO workers always have been able to get a deal without walking off the job, even when they've voted strongly in favour of a strike. 

A search through the news archives shows that LCBO workers voted to strike in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017, yet reached agreement on a contract without a strike in every one of those rounds of bargaining. 

In fact, the LCBO has never had a strike in its history. Yet that's no guarantee it won't happen this time. 

The demographics of LCBO workers have shifted over the years, the union leadership has changed since the last collective agreement was reached in 2021 and the Ford government's move to allow a big expansion of alcohol retail locations is raising fears among the workers that their jobs are at risk. 

To try to dissuade the LCBO from mass layoffs, a significant boost in severance pay is one of the union's key negotiating goals, said Steven Tufts, an associate professor at York University who specializes in labour studies. 

"So if down the road LCBO decides to shutter some stores, it's going to make it very expensive for them to do that," Tufts said in an interview. 

Customer service representatives make up about 80 per cent of the LCBO's unionized workforce, and the bulk of them are casual staff, paid on a lower wage scale than full-time permanent workers doing the same job.