2 Manitoba-owned Liquor Marts to remain open to the public this weekend

All but two government-owned Liquor Marts in Manitoba will be closed to the public this weekend.

The Crestview Liquor Mart located at 3393 Portage Avenue and St. Vital Square Liquor Mart located at 827 Dakota Street will be open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, a Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries spokesperson said in a Friday statement.

Two other Manitoba Liquor Marts will also be open, but only for commercial customers, the spokesperson said.

Winnipeg commercial customers can shop at Eastwinds Liquor Mart Monday to Friday, while commercial customers in the Westman area can visit the Brandon Victoria Liquor Mart from Tuesday through Friday. Both locations will operate from noon until 5 p.m.

Customers must present licensee ID to shop at the locations, Liquor & Lotteries said.

Unionized staff at the stores, as well as the Liquor & Lotteries distribution centre on King Edward Street in Winnipeg, have been stepping up job action since their first walkout last month. 

They gradually expanded the walkouts, forcing management to operate some of the retail locations at times and prompting some lockouts by Liquor & Lotteries, leading up to a full strike that began on Tuesday.

Since then, five Winnipeg Liquor Marts have been kept open by managers, along with a Brandon store and the store in Thompson.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, which represents the striking workers, had previously said it was avoiding pulling workers from stores for long stretches because it wanted Manitobans to be able to buy liquor through the summer.

But on Monday this week, the union announced it would begin a full strike, a move it said was prompted by the corporation's intention to close more stores.

Throughout the dispute, Liquor & Lotteries has been directing customers to check its website for the latest updates.

A spokesperson for the union, in an email, simply said "this is an operational question for the employer."

Liquor Mart customer Neil Curry said he doesn't mind the upcoming closures.

"It's not really a major inconvenience. If it goes on too long it probably will be," he said at the Hargrave and Ellice location on Friday, a store he normally doesn't shop at.

Roger McKay also doesn't normally buy booze at that location. He lives outside the city and normally goes to the store in Birds Hill, but that shop is running low on stock, he told CBC.

The closures don't bother McKay either, he said, despite the long lineups at Hargrave and Ellice Friday.

"What I can't understand is the wage that they're making … it's a low rate," he said. "They should be making more money than that."

On Thursday, MGEU president Kyle Ross said his members would willingly go back to work if they were offered a fair deal. 

According to the union's last collective agreement, which expired in March 2022, full-time Liquor Mart clerks make about $20 to $24 per hour, while part-time clerks receive $15 to $17 an hour.

The most recent offer by the Crown corporation includes a signing bonus for workers who've clocked more than 330 hours in a year, as well as a two per cent wage increase each year, with additional bumps to ensure those at the bottom end of the pay scale get legislated minimum wage increases, Liquor & Lotteries CEO Gerry Sul told CBC earlier this week.

MGEU has previously said a 3.3 per cent increase would be fair, as that number is tied to the consumer price index.

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