Unionized Manitoba Liquor Mart employees stepping up job action to provincewide strike
Conciliator to meet with Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries later today, MGEU president says
The union representing Manitoba's Liquor Mart employees says it's stepping up job action and launching a provincewide strike starting Tuesday morning.
The move is the latest in an ongoing labour dispute between Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries and the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, which represents about 1,400 Liquor Mart workers.
It also comes after the Crown corporation announced Sunday that it was closing an additional 10 Liquor Marts across the province.
At a news conference Tuesday, MGEU president Kyle Ross said the union has no other option than to move to a provincewide strike in response to "escalating lockouts and intimidation tactics."
"Our members want to be in the stores. They want to serve Manitobans, but this unfair wage mandate that [Premier] Heather Stefanson has put upon us is really an untenable situation," Ross said.
A conciliator is meeting with the employer Tuesday, and will report back to the union.
"We're in the process where we want to solve this as fast as we can, but we have work to do," Ross said.
The strike will continue for the foreseeable future, Ross said.
"We don't really have much choice, he said.
WATCH | Liquor Mart strike needed to get a fair deal, MGEU president says:
The workers, who have been without a contract since the previous one expired in March 2022, began a selective strike began on July 19, which has seen MGEU employees refuse to work overtime and liquor store workers not receiving shipments.
Operations at the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries distribution centre have also been impacted.
Manitoba NDP MLA Lisa Naylor said on Tuesday that the union has her party's support, and Stefanson is to blame for the ongoing dispute.
"She can stop this strike today if she steps up and takes some responsibility for it," Naylor said at a press conference.
MBLL can afford union's demands: president
On Monday, the Crown corporation — which had previously locked employees out at some locations — said it would shut 10 further stores on Tuesday in the midst of the ongoing labour dispute.
"MBLL must reduce the number of Liquor Marts open for business to ensure we can effectively manage allocating limited inventory to the remaining open locations," the Crown corporation said in a statement on Monday.
According to the union's last collective agreement, which expired in March 2022, full-time MBLL clerks make about $20 to $24 per hour, while part-time clerks receive $15 to $17 an hour.
In a Monday statement, Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union president Kyle Ross said Liquor & Lotteries is "a very profitable corporation" that "can afford fair and reasonable wage increases for its workers."
Liquor & Lotteries has presented a four-year contract with 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.
Ross has previously said 3.3 per cent would be fair, as that number is tied to the consumer price index.
The corporation is reminding customers to check its website for open locations and hours of operation.