BC hospitality industry in crisis: "We cannot afford for this strike to continue"

It’s now been more than a week since the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) served strike notice and initiated job action outside four key BC Liquor Distribution Centres and BC’s hospitality industry has already begun to feel the impact.

Since these government-owned warehouses in British Columbia are shut down, product in the system is the only product available. So no new product is able to be shipped out to businesses. 

The BC cannabis industry is also feeling the effects of the strike action, as it too has been cut off from supply chains, leaving many with low stock which may run out within the next week.

The LDB warehouses supply about 40% of all alcohol in BC and are the only source of legal regulated cannabis for most retailers.

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This morning, an unprecedented 19 industry associations and stakeholders (including Alliance of Beverage Licensees (ABLE BC), BC Craft Brewers Guild, BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, and others) have sent an open letter to Premier John Horgan and the BCGEU urging a “swift resolution.”

The open letter comes after the BCGEU announced yesterday it would accept the government’s offer to return to the bargaining table and is a plea to the two parties involved to resolve the strike action before more damage is done.

“Though intended to motivate the provincial government, the BCGEU’s job action strikes yet another crushing blow to the hospitality and tourism sector, which is only beginning to recover after the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the release states.

The open letter states that these industries, which include restaurants, bars, brewers, as well as the tourism sector, have been cut off from “vital inventory needed to maintain the viability of our businesses and the jobs we support and create.”

If this strike continues, the letter says, these industries “will unfairly bear the brunt of serious economic consequences including business closures and layoffs, cancelled events such as concerts and weddings, loss of consumer confidence, and damage to BC’s reputation among tourists and consumers.”

The hospitality industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians, has already been devastated by the effects of the pandemic, and this strike action – which involves “industries not involved in negotiations” – could be devastating.

“We support the right of government employees to bargain collectively, but the decision by the BCGEU to target liquor distribution centres drags the province’s hospitality, tourism, liquor, and cannabis industries into a dispute that has nothing to do with us, and deals yet another crushing blow when we’re only just getting back on our feet,” the open letter continues.

The 19 collective associations also urge the BCGEU to remove picket lines while negotiations are ongoing.

You can read the open letter in its entirety on the BCRFA website or the ABLE BC website.