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Armagedon is coming - L.C.B.O. goes on strike
| quote: | Lineups at liquor stores in the province could get much longer in the next week, as the threat of a strike by L.C.B.O. employees looms.
The 5,400 workers voted 84 per cent in favour of rejecting the board's latest offer.
If their concerns aren't addressed and employees decide to strike, they can legally walk off the job next Thursday, just in time for the August long weekend.
That could mean long waits at the province’s 600 stores as people try to stock up on enough beer, wine and coolers to outlast any possible labour action.
John Coones, chairman of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union’s Liquor Board Employees Division, warns that the threat of a first-ever L.C.B.O. wokers’ strike is very real this time around.
"We're having meetings provincewide and it doesn't matter what area of the province that we check on, the word from the members is that they're voting (the contract) down," he said.
The main concern for employees is job security. They’re worried privatization is in the works, despite Finance Minister Greg Sorbara’s assurance earlier in the week that won’t happen.
An independent panel investigating alcoholic beverage sales in the province recommended that Ontario allow beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores.
Coones said the union wants Sorbara's guarantee in writing.
"If they don't get re-elected, the odds are pretty high that it'll be the Tories that get back in," he said. "They already tried to privatize us once, so they can pull that report off the shelf pretty quick."
Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris campaigned on the promise of selling the liquor board before he was elected.
L.C.B.O. chairman Andy Brandt said a contingency plan was in place in case of a strike but wouldn’t expand on the details.
"Quite frankly the L.C.B.O. has never had a strike, so I'm not anticipating that we're going to have one this time around," he said.
"However, we're negotiating actively and hopefully we'll come to a settlement that will satisfy both parties."
Coones contends that any contingency plan would fail.
"I would suggest that the biggest majority of (stores) will be shut down, and the other ones, if they aren't shut down immediately, certainly they will be within two to three days," he said.
If a strike occurs, workers won’t only stop working at the stores and in warehouses, they’ll also physically block any vehicles trying to move stock.
"We'll have secondary pickets, and any truck that wants to try crossing that line, well, that's up to them, but I don't think it's in their best interest to do that."
Many consumers are planning on stocking up this weekend so they won’t be left high – and dry.
Businesses like bars, restaurants and hotels are also looking towards potential bottle fatigue, by making sure they have enough supply to meet demand should a strike last into the fall.
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