LCBO staffers, booze buyers adjust as strike begins

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The temperature for the first two weeks of July will be hot and sticky — while the LCBO forecast for the next 14 days will be dry.

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For the first time in the Crown corporation’s history, 9,000 LCBO workers hit the picket lines and 685 stores across the province were closed as talks with the province and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) shut down Thursday night.

LCBO retail stores will remain closed for 14 days, pending an agreement. Should the strike last beyond two weeks, the LCBO will open 32 stores three days a week — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — with limited hours. Online ordering systems will remain available.

Outside a Danforth Ave. LCBO location just east of Victoria Pk. Ave., about 40 picketers walked the line for the first day on strike and were greeted by pedestrians and motorists honking horns and high-fiving them for their work action.

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Janice Ariza, a secretary with OPSEU Local 5111 and a fixed-term employee, explained their fight isn’t about wages. Rather, it’s about job security.

“I was optimistic, then almost in tears last night (Thursday) because this is the first time in LCBO history that we were forced to strike,” Ariza said.

“It’s not about wages. It’s about securing good jobs, about benefitting communities for generations,” she added.

The LCBO generates about $2.5 billion in public money each year that goes towards funding hospitals, education and community programs.

Danielle, who hails from Newfoundland and Labrador, says in her home province liquor or beer stores don’t exist — residents get booze from the corner store.

She said she isn’t a liquor drinker but supports the LCBO workers’ right to strike.

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‘I DO BELIEVE IN WHAT THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR’

“I do believe in what they are fighting for. So thumbs up to them and I hope they get what they are looking for,” she said.

Sylvie drove into the LCBO parking lot with her husband on Friday and wasn’t aware of the strike. An LCBO staffer informed her of the details.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous and I don’t blame them for going on strike,” she said, adding she would be going to the nearby Wine Rack or Metro grocery store hoping to purchase her favourite Chilean wine.

On Thursday night, OPSEU bargaining committee chair Colleen MacLeod said that job security is at the forefront as the Ontario Conservative government is pushing forward a plan to bring spirits into “mom and pop” stores, thus potentially eliminating LCBO jobs in the future.

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Speaking to reporters Thursday night, MacLeod said “LCBO workers are ready to make history. Tonight, (Premier Doug) Ford’s dry summer begins.”

One worker picketing at the Danforth and Victoria Park Ave. store in Scarborough said she has been involved with union talks in the past and wages hadn’t even been mentioned.

She said on Friday her go-to East York LCBO location at Coxwell Ave. near O’Connor Dr. looked like something you would see at Christmas as people jammed the store stocking up on booze — many perhaps expecting more than a 14 day strike.

At the nearby Metro grocery store at Shoppers World Danforth, the shelves were stacked with beer and wine and consumers bumped into each other with their shopping carts while filling up with wine.

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