Unionized Manitoba Liquor Mart workers start voting on new offer that includes higher wages

Picket lines at Liquor Marts across the province have come down as unionized workers with Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries learn about and vote on a new tentative deal made with the Crown corporation this week, their union says.

With some exceptions, a majority of the approximately 1,400 unionized workers would receive a general wage increase totalling about 12 per cent over four years if the proposed deal is ratified, MGEU said in a news release Wednesday.

The vote started at noon Thursday and will continue until Sunday at the same time. The results of the vote will be released on Sunday afternoon, MGEU said.

The new deal would end just over a month of job action throughout the province if ratified.

"Our bargaining committee is recommending that members accept this agreement, but ultimately, it is the members who will decide," MGEU president Kyle Ross said at a Thursday news conference.

Customer service clerks and warehouse workers who have clocked more than 330 hours of service would receive a four-year contract with a total general wage increase of just under 12 per cent over four years, according to the union. The same workers with fewer than 330 hours would get increases of 21 per cent total in the same period.

The union previously said a general wage increase of just over 13 per cent over four years would be fair, as that number is tied to the consumer price index, but the Crown corporation was unwilling until recently to budge from eight per cent.

The general wage increases in the new deal from Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries are retroactive to March 25, 2022, as well as pay scale adjustments, benefit enhancements, a one-time lump-sum payment and shift premiums, the Crown corporation said on Wednesday.

Bargaining progressed 'quickly': Ross

Liquor & Lotteries returned to the bargaining table with the union a week ago, after both parties said conciliation efforts had reached a standstill the day before.

Ross said the Crown corporation did not participate in the process until then, as it was previously focused on proceeding into binding arbitration prematurely or at the Sept. 17 deadline to hammer out details around general wage increases.

"Once they engaged in bargaining, we were able to settle this rather quickly," he said, speculating that pressure from Manitobans may have prompted the change in attitude.

Ross said it's difficult to predict what the outcome of the vote will be on Sunday, but the bargaining committee hopes union members take their recommendation and vote yes. If the vote is unsuccessful, bargaining and strike action would continue.

Unionized Liquor Mart workers went on a provincewide strike on Aug. 8, after performing limited job action such as day-long strikes and walkouts which began on July 19.

The approximately 1,400 unionized workers have been without a contract since their last collective agreement with the Crown corporation expired in March 2022, which contained a general wage increase of 1.75 per cent over four years.

Ross said there is hope that unionized workers at Manitoba Public Insurance can work out a new contract with that Crown corporation and avoid more strike action in the province, as members met Wednesday evening to discuss strike plans after rejecting an offer this week.

The latest deal from Liquor & Lotteries proves that successful bargaining is possible, according to Ross.

"It shows that the government mandate, the two per cent mandate, is not set in stone."