SAQ union says strikes could continue, as many store shelves sit empty
CBC
Seeing sparse shelves of liquor and wine at the SAQ? They might be about to get more empty.
Warehouse and delivery workers with the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) could be going back on strike, after 86 per cent of the workers voted to reject a tentative agreement Monday night.
The union went on an indefinite general strike on Nov. 22., but workers returned later that week when the union reached a tentative agreement with the SAQ.
"We had suspended the strike in order to give negotiations one last chance. We had an agreement, but it was refused by the members," said Michel Gratton, a representative for the union, in a press release.
"We will meet [Tuesday] with the executive committee of the union to determine what our next actions will be."
Catherine Dagenais, the president and chief executive officer of the SAQ, said she was disappointed and surprised to hear the agreement was rejected by the members.
She said her priority is finding a solution with the union, and making sure restaurants and consumers have stock for the upcoming holiday season.
"Yes, the stock is there," she said, "but it needs to be received at our locations."
Dagenais said she has visited stores and has seen the empty shelves. Most SAQ locations across the province have about a week's worth of stock, she said.
Some stores will get more bottles on Tuesday, while the strike is still suspended, she said.
When asked about the strike potentially resuming, Dagenais said the SAQ still has "every intention" to sit down and negotiate with the union.
The SAQ's unionized warehouse workers have been without a contract since April.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Local athletes will have the chance to test out the facilities they will soon compete in during the 2025 Canada Games in St. John's.
More than a year after she had surgery following a brain aneurysm, Sudbury, Ont., artist Monique Legault says she's been keeping busy with her work.
When Rhonda McEwen received her official royal letter of appointment as an honorary captain of the Canadian navy in Halifax on June 21, it marked the latest chapter in her remarkable family history.
A woman has been charged with impaired driving after allegedly driving into a restaurant in Toronto early Saturday morning, police say.
Ambulances are getting to life-threatening emergencies faster since the launch of a five-priority dispatch system around two months ago, according to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.
Tyler Fransen lost his Saskatoon home this spring after he missed mortgage payments due to financial circumstances and life situations that sent him over the tipping point.
A youth mental health facility planned for construction in Fort McMurray hopes to provide services that many families in the community are currently forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to access.
The divide at Kamloops city council appears to be wider than ever following the recent defeat of a controversial motion put forward by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to conduct a forensic audit of all city departments and management practices.
For the last four years, Sydney Simpson has been spending turtle nesting season walking along roadways and trails in Point Pelee.
Thunder Bay police have escorted a woman out of the building in the 100 block section of Cumberland Street North where they continue to respond to an ongoing incident.
The city's plan to use GPS and field checks to track the work of snow-clearing contractors is still ineffective, Toronto's auditor general found in a new report.
The N.W.T.'s environment minister says communication with the Alberta government has improved since a pair of oil spills several years ago.
The latest data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows an uptick in the amount of fentanyl seized near the American northern border with Canada — but the quantities intercepted remain a tiny fraction of what's coming from Mexico.