Ontario liquor stores face strike or lockout Friday on eve of Victoria Day long weekend

As the Victoria Day long weekend looms, Ontarians might find themselves scrambling for their holiday booze.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and its union are facing off in contract talks deadlocked largely over the use of part-time employees.

The Toronto Star reports the LCBO warned customers to stock up before the weekend in case a strike or lockout hits on Friday. If it does, it would be the first such stoppage in the board's 87-year history, the Star said.

Almost 60 per cent of LCBO's 7,000 unionized employees are part-time casual workers, board spokeswoman Sally Ritchie told the Star. She defended the wage range of just under $15 to just over $20 an hour.

"These are good jobs with a good employer," she said. "It’s a retail environment and we have to staff according to what customer demands are."

[ Related: LCBO says stock up for Victoria Day weekend as strike looms ]

But the Ontario Public Service Employees Union calls these "part-time, disposable jobs" that provide no security for families.

Union member Craig Hadley told reporters it takes 15 years on average to get on full-time at the LCBO. Erratic work schedules and hours that vary week to week make it hard for part-timers to find a second job to make ends meet, he said according to the Star.

The union has filed a gender-discrimination human rights complaint against the LCBO, claiming that 70 per cent of the booze retailer's casual workers are women who've worked there for more than a decade.

The LCBO, which plans to challenge the claim before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, said the salaries were bargained in the collective agreement and noted most of its full-time retail employees are also women, according to The Canadian Press.

A strike or lockout at Ontario liquor stores is bound to revive the question of allowing private sales through corner stores and supermarkets.

[ Related: Union files discrimination complaint against LCBO at Ont. human rights tribunal ]

Alberta features private liquor stores and outlets attached to major supermarkets, while British Columbia has dozens of private beer and wine stores and the Saskatchewan government has just approved private liquor stores in Saskatoon and Regina, according to CBC News.

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak promised last year that he would sell off all or parts of the LCBO and curtail opening of more government liquor stores if his party forms a government, the Toronto Sun reported last December.

"Let’s let the private sector into the alcohol business; let’s have some more competition," Hudak said. "It’s time to end the LCBO and Beer Store monopolies.

"You can cross the border at any point in Ontario — whether you’re going to New York, Quebec, Michigan, Minnesota or Manitoba — and you drive into a province or state where you actually can buy alcohol in more outlets than just government-run stores."

The idea gets a thumbs-up from Ian Baillie, executive director of B.C.'s Alliance of Beverage Licensees, which speaks for the province's 672 private liquor stores, bars and pubs.

The Star reports that in a speech to be delivered Thursday to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Baillie claims a mix of private and public liquor outlets could pay off big for the government.

"If the Ontario liquor industry mirrored ours in B.C., instead of $1.6 billion going to government, that number could be around $2.7 billion," the speech says, according to the Star.

The LCBO currently operates 635 stores, along with 219 locations attached to convenience stores in rural and norther Ontario, the Star noted. It's reported net sales revenue last year totalled $4.71 billion, an increase of $218 million over the previous year. The government's cut, not including sales taxes, was a record $1.63 billion.

Besides giving consumers more convenience and choice, Baillie said 56 per cent of the $911 million transferred to the B.C. government by the provincial Liquor Distribution Branch, which still monopolizes the wholesale market, came from private liquor transactions.

But Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa dismissed Baillie's proposal, the Star said.

"We are talking about a monopoly that has tremendous value to the province of Ontario... the LCBO is not up for consideration," he told reporters at Queen’s Park.