LCBO workers could strike days before Canada Day long weekend
Posted Jun 9, 2017 11:44:45 AM.
Last Updated Jun 9, 2017 11:55:48 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Workers at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario could go on strike just days before the Canada Day long weekend.
A strike deadline has been set for LCBO workers for 12:01 a.m. on June 26, 2017.
Around 8,000 workers represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have been without a contract since March 31.
LCBO staff voted 93 per cent in favour of a strike in April.
OPSEU bargaining team chair, Denise Davis, says that what happens next “is up to the employer.”
“We’ve come forward at the bargaining table with a plan for a better LCBO,” says Davis. “One that doesn’t leave workers trapped in part-time positions for decades, protects jobs in communities across Ontario, and strengthens this public asset that provides essential revenue for the province. LCBO management knows they can afford to treat their workers better, after all, we’re talking about a company with $2 billion in profits last year.”
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas will meet with LCBO workers’ elected leadership in Toronto on Friday to finalize strike plans.
“I guess we’ll find out what her promises are worth on June 26,” says Thomas. “Whether she (Kathleen Wynne) tells her managers to join with us to build a better LCBO, for workers and Ontarians, or lets the clock run down and the picket lines go up, is now up to her.”
