Striking LCBO workers' stiff stance on convenience store liquor licences

Judy Jones walked along the picket line behind an LCBO location in a strip mall at the north end of North Bay, close to the Highway 11/17 intersection at Algonquin Avenue.

Jones, OPSEU president of Local 682 is one of the close to 9,000 unionized Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) employees who walked off the job on Friday, closing the doors to hundreds of stores across the province and launching the first-ever strike in the retailer’s history.

"Our workers have a lot of energy, we are getting a lot of support from the public," she said while three vehicles honked support during the interview. 

"Until Doug Ford is willing to get back to the tables and talk about the 'Ready to Drinks' that they are proposing to put into local convenience stores, they are not going back to the table," she said. 

Close to 20 convenience stores and gas stations in North Bay have already been given the green light to sell alcohol shortly after the Labour Day long weekend. 

Two more Shell gas bar locations in North Bay, including one right across the street from the LCBO on Algonquin Avenue were accepted on Monday. 

According to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, 19 North Bay applications have been approved for locations listed as convenience stores, as of July 8. 

See related: Disappointed LCBO workers on the picket lines in North Bay

See also: 17 convenience stores approved to sell liquor in September

Wayne Young is a full-time customer service employee at the LCBO with 19 years of service. He says the Union was aware that this was happening.  

"The way the provincial government was playing its cards, that was going to be forthcoming anyway which just shows they are putting the Board in a position where they are refusing to negotiate as the province moves forward in bad faith," stated Young. 

Jones is equally frustrated. 

"That is one of our big sticking points at this time is the privatization of those 'Ready to Drinks' as we want to keep them in the LCBOs. When we have those in the LCBOs, those are generating revenue as well as hours for people," she said.  

She feels corner store booze will have a significant impact on the LCBO. "That is 20 to 30 per cent of the revenue.

"That is going to affect jobs and as it is we have a lot of casual workers with hardly any hours. Now they are going to have no hours and in order for them to qualify for benefits they have to have 1300 hours, and they have to work five years. The chance of [qualifying for benefits] becoming a reality is slimmer and slimmer each time." 

She says the striking LCBO workers are willing to make the LCBO more convenient. 

"That is a huge one, and if they want convenience, OPSEU is willing and ready to work with them on the convenience aspect of it. If they want to open hours longer or open earlier, we are ready and willing to do that," she said.