Both the union and Crown agency responsible for selling alcohol in Ontario are staying tight-lipped as the prospect of a strike at all provincial liquor stores looms large.
Negotiators with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the LCBO have been in fruitless talks for weeks, with a possible strike beginning Friday morning.
The union and the LCBO have offered few meaningful insights into discussions at the bargaining table as talks between the two sides stalled.
Asked for an update on Wednesday afternoon, the LCBO pointed Global News to its bargaining website where it promised new information would be posted if available. The union said it would continue to work “right up until” the strike deadline to get a deal.
Talks were scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week between the LCBO and OPSEU.
If no deal is reached by 12:01 a.m. on Friday, the union has said workers at stores around Ontario will walk off the job.
With a potential strike less than 24 hours away, here’s everything you need to know.
How did we get here?
For months, talks between OPSEU and the LCBO have dragged on with little progress to show on either side.
On June 16, the union received an overwhelming strike mandate from its members, with 97 per cent of those who voted opting to move closer to a legal strike.
That strike vote followed an announcement at the end of May by the Ford government promising to speed up the liberalization of alcohol sales in Ontario by moving beer, wine and mixed drinks into corner stores in 2024.
Two days after receiving a strike mandate from its members, the union announced it had taken the next step toward walking off the job: getting a no board report, which triggers a countdown for it to be in a legal strike position.
The 17 countdown after a no board report board put the union in a legal strike position for Friday, July 5, at which point its leaders said workers would walk off the job if they did not have a deal.
In mid-June, the union also accepted an LCBO request to appoint a third-party mediator to lead talks between the two sides.
Since that appointment, neither side has offered meaningful insight into how talks are progressing or if they are hopeful a deal can be reached.
What happens if a strike takes place?
At the end of June, the LCBO laid out its contingency plans for a strike, saying all its stores would be closed for the first two weeks of any industrial action.
For the first 14 days of the strike — beginning on July 5, if no deal is reached — the LCBO said all of its retail stores across the province would be closed. From July 19, if the strike were to still be ongoing, 30 stores would open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a limited number of hours.
“While LCBO’s focus remains on achieving a deal that is fair to bargaining unit employees and helps the LCBO continue to operate effectively and efficiently for Ontario in a new marketplace, (the Ontario Public Service Employees Union) has clearly signalled its intent to strike,” the provincial agency said in a statement on June 27.
OPSEU, which represents LCBO workers, said at the same time that the strike plan was evidence the LCBO was “not actually planning to negotiate a deal.”
The provincial agency also said it would keep providing wholesale products to other places that remain open, such as licensed grocery stores, pubs and restaurants.
The LCBO extended its hours in the run-up to the potential strike, with all stores open from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The Beer Store as well as local craft brewery bottle shops and wineries will remain open even if the LCBO strike goes ahead.
What are the issues on the table?
The union representing LCBO workers has put the Ford government’s plan to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell some alcohol at the heart of negotiations.
Bargaining chair Colleen MacLeod said it was “clear” that expanding alcohol sales to thousands of new, non-government stores would
“You can’t add 8,500 more locations to sell alcohol in this province and expect that the LCBO will still be around,” she previously told Global News. “There will be store closures, that’s clear.”
In a statement on Wednesday, MacLeod said the union had “put forward a plan that would grow the LCBO to meet demand and increase convenience, to expand public revenues, and to support jobs at the LCBO and in our communities.”
The idea of a separate, LCBO-centred plan to expand alcohol sales was first raised at a union press conference in mid-June. It is a plan the LCBO said had been pitched to it less than 24 hours earlier, without written details at the time.
“OPSEU did not provide written proposals on these priorities, nor did it provide details of an ‘alternative model’ for beverage alcohol sales,” the LCBO said on June 18.
“OPSEU has been aware of the Ontario Government’s plan to expand beverage alcohol sales, including ready-to-drink beverages, to convenience, grocery, and big box stores since December 2023.”
The union — which has also mentioned terms for casual employees and job security as other issues — has tried to lay the issue of a potential strike at the feet of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
“It’s on Premier Ford and the LCBO to bargain in good faith and make sure that public services and good jobs don’t get left behind,” the union said. “It is on Premier Ford to avert a strike.”
A spokesperson for the province said the Ford government remained hopeful a deal could be reached but that the prospect of a strike highlighted the need to change how Ontario sells alcohol.
“It’s disappointing that OPSEU could be heading towards an unnecessary strike that threatens people’s ability to enjoy their summers,” they told Global News.
“While we hope OPSEU puts consumers first by working constructively at the negotiating table toward a deal, we have never been more committed than we are now to delivering on our promise to deliver more choice and convenience with beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink beverages in convenience, grocery and big box stores.”