Ontario Booze Workers Strike Against Privatization

On Sunday July 21, workers at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) ratified a new three-year contract, ending a two-week strike fought to protect jobs at Ontario’s publicly owned alcohol seller.

Their union — the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) — struck the LCBO on July 5 to win job security improvements and wage increases. Overshadowing union members’ immediate demands, however, was Doug Ford’s Conservative government’s stealth plan to further privatize alcohol sales across the province.

As it stands, OPSEU has managed to hold off the worst effects of the government’s privatization scheme on union members, while winning modest wage increases. But the future of work at the LCBO — a Crown corporation already enfeebled by years of outsourcing and workforce restructuring — remains uncertain.

The union claims that the newly inked deal “includes the protection of good jobs and public revenues,” but there is reason to remain concerned. According to OPSEU, the contract will prevent LCBO retail closures and will cap the number of “agency stores” (private stores licensed by the LCBO), while increasing the number of permanent, largely part-time, jobs.

Throughout the strike, the Conservatives plowed ahead with their efforts to expand alcohol sales at private grocers and convenience stores and thus outsource OPSEU work. The new contract won’t change the government’s plan.

The next three years will therefore test how Ford’s giveaway to big-box retailers will mesh with the new union contract. For now, union members can celebrate a victory, albeit a partial and precarious one.

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