LCBO workers to vote on potential province-wide strike this month

Apr 5 2017, 9:09 pm

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) representing 7,500 LCBO workers has announced a province-wide strike vote slated for April 24 and 25.

OPSEU’s collective agreement at the LCBO expired on March 31, 2017 and now, Chair of the bargaining team for OPSEU’s Liquor Board Employees Division (LBED), Denise Davis says “The LCBO is demanding concessions at the bargaining table that are alarming. If accepted, these proposals will weaken the LCBO and that our members cannot and will not accept…”

In a press release, the union shared that it has asked the Ministry of Labour to appoint a conciliator to move contract negotiations forward with the provincial liquor board. Should the conciliation fail, either side can initiate a countdown towards a legal strike or lockout deadline.

The issues at the bargaining table are “being set at Queen’s Park with Premier Kathleen Wynne’s ill-advised plan to sell LCBO products in grocery stores,” said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “This is creeping privatization, and if it’s allowed to move ahead unchecked it will mean the end of the LCBO as we know it before too many years have gone by.”

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