Granville Island Brewing strike continues, as more sectors see labour disputes in B.C.

Workers at a Vancouver brewery continue to walk the picket lines after more than a month off the job.

The Granville Island Brewing strike started on July 8, with the dispute centering around wages at the company owned by Molson Coors Canada.

According to several on strike — and others in a string of labour disputes across the province this summer — B.C.'s skyrocketing costs of living and inflation appear to be a driving force behind much of the discontent.

"We could not agree on wages," said Farya Abdiannia, a retail worker at the brewery, on the picket line outside her workplace on Saturday. "We just want to be able to afford the city we work in.

"It's expensive to get rent, it's expensive to pay for groceries, for everything."

Another worker on strike outside the downtown Vancouver facility on Saturday told CBC News the high housing costs in the city are a big factor for him.

"The bread-and-butter of why most people are striking at this time is we're just looking for fair wages ... in one of the most expensive cities not just in Canada, but in the world," said Aaron Nakonechny. "The cost of living just keeps going up."

Molson Coors Canadian said in a statement the beer giant believes its contract offer is fair and reasonable, and remains committed to reaching a strong agreement with its Vancouver employees — who are unionized with Service Employees International Union Local 2.

"Our goal remains a contract that offers wage increases on top of current pay, which is already above Vancouver's living wage," a spokesperson said in the statement. "We have negotiated in good faith and believe our offer is fair and reasonable. 

"Unfortunately, we have reached an impasse."

Union president John Locke denied that employees are currently paid above Vancouver's living wage, adding that the current living wage of $24.08 per hour would not be attained until halfway through the new contract with the union's wage proposal.

"Some workers currently make more than a living wage with 'job premiums.' But the jobs are not full time," Locke said in a statement. "Granville Island Brewery's workers are only paid premium wage rates when they are actually doing the job, typically for only portions of their workday and only twice or occasionally three times a week."

'Workers more inclined to take chances'

The beer brewers aren't alone in worrying how they will afford to live in B.C. Employees from numerous sectors across the province have been speaking out in frustration with their earnings not keeping pace with rising inflation.

Teaching support staff at Simon Fraser University, as well as hospitality workers at hotel chains across Metro Vancouver, have been on strike since June.

B.C. port workers walked off the job for 13 days before reaching a new deal last week. Fraser Valley bus drivers also ended their nearly four-month long strike last week, after protracted negotiations.

Even in more remote parts of the province workers are feeling the pinch, with strikes being narrowly averted in the past month in two work camps for those in the liquefied natural gas industry.

The summer of labour discontent appears to be taking hold across the country, too. In Toronto, thousands of Metro grocery store workers are on strike, while a Manitoba labour dispute has shuttered liquor stores and lottery operations.

Labour experts say it's not a coincidence these tensions are all surfacing at once.

"COVID has disrupted the labour market in ways that I've never seen," said Mark Thompson, a business professor at the University of B.C. "We have low unemployment, which helps workers.

"Workers are more inclined to take chances on things than they were when unemployment was higher and the inflation rate was lower."

WATCH | Strikes take place across country: 

Strikes across Canada part of 'red hot labour summer'

1 year ago

Duration 1:56

British Columbia ports are not the only sites of tense labour disputes this summer, as frustration over wages and job security prompt other strikes across the country, from Manitoba Liquor Marts to Toronto supermarkets.

According to Simon Fraser University labour professor John-Henry Harter, the rising costs of living are driving a lot more  workers to consider actions like striking or unionizing after the pandemic.

Seeing some companies boast record profits while employees struggle to pay their bills is a hard pill for many to swallow, he said. 

"The key thing is workers' biggest tool, and strongest weapon, is to withdraw their labour," Harter told CBC News in an interview last week. "Solidarity amongst workers is key and one of the key things when we talk about the economy is the economy is supposed to work for us as Canadians, not for transnational multi-billion dollar corporations.

"Workers participate in our local economies ... They're pretty much spending their whole paycheque in British Columbia."

For Abdiannia, the strike at Granville Island Brewing is about more than her current job serving customers at the popular Vancouver tourist destination. It's about worrying about her future altogether, an anxiety she hears from many of her peers also in their 20s.

"It's hard for me to even imagine a future where I am not living at home because of not being able to afford it," Abdiannia said. "Coming out of the pandemic, a lot of people are now starting to realize their worth — and how much we actually do work hard … and deserve so much more."