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robbie_dee
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Babbler # 195

posted 23 July 2005 01:08 PM      Profile for robbie_dee     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I thought it might be worth starting a thread about the pending strike at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

National Post: Liquor strike could paralyze supplies in Ontario

quote:
TORONTO (CP) - A strike next week by 5,400 Ontario liquor store workers would choke off the warehouses that provide wine, beer and liquor to retail stores and prevent any government plan to keep stores operating, a union spokesman said Thursday.

John Coones said although results of a vote on whether Liquor Control Board of Ontario workers will reject a contract offer won't be announced until Friday, preliminary evidence suggests the strike will go ahead next Thursday as planned.

"We're having meetings provincewide and it doesn't matter what area of the province that we check on, the word from the members is that they're voting it down," said Coones, chairman of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union's liquor board employees division.

LCBO officials have said there is a contingency plan in place if - for the first time - its employees do indeed strike.


Read the rest.


From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
robbie_dee
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 195

posted 23 July 2005 01:12 PM      Profile for robbie_dee     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A similar strike by Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) workers shut down liquor stores in Quebec for over two months. For a bit of background, check out this contemporaneous babble thread:

Two-month long SAQ Strike


From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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Babbler # 2534

posted 23 July 2005 01:34 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Seems to me the SAQ strike was about three months all in all...

It is really tough. The workers lost so much overtime from the "vin nouveau" promotion, the Christmas/New Year's season and Valentine's Day that they are still scrambling to pay the bills. The many part-timers also lost a lot of benefits that required so many hours' worked in the past year...

Here Charest was making an example out of them. Hope it won't be the same in Ontario. Any Ontario labour babblers have any idea of the LCBO workers' bargaining strength?

Does LCBO also include the beer stores?


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
James
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Babbler # 5341

posted 23 July 2005 01:38 PM      Profile for James        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lagatta:
Does LCBO also include the beer stores?

No, The Beer Store is a separate enterprise altogether, run by the breweries in some sort of co-op. And as I noted in the "BYOB" thread, wine should not be a problem for most people either.


From: Windsor; ON | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
James
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posted 23 July 2005 01:58 PM      Profile for James        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Here is a list of 108 Ontario wineries with contact information. Any of them would be happy to provide directions to their nearest retail outlet. And I see I was wrong about the number of outlets each is allowed, as Colio alone now has fourteen, most in Toronto. I think that has happened through aquiring "distressed" competitors and taking over their outlet allocations and posibly locations.

Note on the list, it specifies whether each winery does or does not produce V.Q.A. wines. Generally, avoid those that do not.


From: Windsor; ON | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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Babbler # 2534

posted 23 July 2005 02:32 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Great list, James. I agree with you about VQA, except in the cases of some of the producers specialising in cider, perry etc. I suggested Colio (for plonk) because I know they also produce "good" wines and their plonk is actually quite drinkable.

Now, though, we have to work on how we will support the LCBO workers, as the fact that vino (and beer) will remain widely available does undercut their bargaining strength. At the SAQ, the fact that the warehouses and distributors settled before the retail outlets made it a tough slag for the rest of the workers.


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
robbie_dee
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Babbler # 195

posted 27 July 2005 01:31 PM      Profile for robbie_dee     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Toronto Star: Cheers! LCBO Strike Averted

quote:
There will be no dry mouths among wine and spirits drinkers this long weekend.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced at 9 a.m. today that they have reached a tentative agreement with 5,400 employees, averting the possibility of a strike at liquor stores and warehouses.

Marathon bargaining for the past two days produced a settlement around 1:30 a.m. at a downtown hotel.

Terms of the new collective bargaining agreement were not disclosed pending ratification by members of the Liquor Board Employees Division of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).

The agreement must also be approved by members of the LCBO Board, and by the Ontario government.



From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
thwap
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posted 27 July 2005 02:00 PM      Profile for thwap        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh THANK GOD!!!!!

(or did that sound a little desperate? SHIT!! Lookit the time!!)


From: Hamilton | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
Albireo
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3052

posted 27 July 2005 02:25 PM      Profile for Albireo     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
thwap, you got a rule against drinking before 2pm Halifax time?

[Edited to add:] No strike would have even been possible under Mike Harris! He would have declared the LCBO an essential service!

(And, for him, it was).

[ 27 July 2005: Message edited by: Albireo ]


From: --> . <-- | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged

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