Government, union head back to bargaining table in Manitoba liquor strike

The two sides in the ongoing Manitoba liquor strike are heading back to the bargaining table on Friday.

"This is a significant step forward, moving us closer to an agreement that we can take to our membership for a vote," Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union president Kyle Ross said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

The union says there are many proposals and ideas it has put forward that it wants to hear back from Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries about.

"We are hopeful tomorrow's meeting will be productive and will lead to many more bargaining sessions so that we can reach an agreement that respects and values our members and gets them back to work," Ross said in the statement.

The provincewide strike is now in its second week, although limited job action, including day-long strikes and walkouts, started nearly a month ago.

Liquor & Lotteries workers have been without a contract since their last collective agreement with the Crown corporation expired in March 2022.

An independent conciliator has recommended binding arbitration to settle the dispute. Liquor & Lotteries accepted the proposal but MGEU has not.

"A contract negotiated and agreed to by both sides is preferable to a contract imposed by an arbitrator," Ross said in his statement on Thursday.

"A negotiated contract is endorsed by both the union and the employer, and most importantly, all members get to vote on it. Members have no vote when a contract is settled by arbitration."

A negotiated contract can be voted on and implemented far more quickly that an arbitrated one, which can take a year to resolve, he added.

"After working a year and half under an expired contract, MGEU members shouldn't have to wait that long."

Liquor & Lotteries has not issued a statement about a resumption of negotiations. However, earlier on Thursday the corporation put out a news release that said "there is no downside to arbitration" for MGEU members.

The two sides met with a conciliator after face-to-face bargaining collapsed, who recommended some of the employer's proposals — which represent "significant gains for employees" — remain in place while an arbitration process examines general wage increases, Liquor & Lotteries said in its news release.

As such, workers "cannot do worse than what is already on the table, and they have every ability to argue what is fair and reasonable on general wage increases for everyone," the release said. 

Liquor & Lotteries says it fully accepted this recommendation and confirmed these commitments to enter into immediate binding arbitration.  

"Every extra day this strike drags on hurts all of the Manitobans that count on us," president and CEO Gerry Sul said in the release. 

"We have accepted all of the independent conciliator's recommendations to end the strike immediately."