Employees 'collateral damage' in labour dispute: Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries president

The head of Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries says the union representing Liquor Mart employeesis not wavering from its demands at the bargaining table despite "significant" offers from the Crown corporation, saying workers are "collateral damage" in the union's agenda.

On Tuesday, after unionized employees begana provincewide strike, all Liquor Mart locationswere closed except for five Winnipeg stores, which were kept open by managers, as well as one each in Brandon and Thompson.

The full strike is the latest escalation in a weeks-long labour dispute between Manitoba Liquor & Lotteriesand the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union, which represents about 1,400 Liquor Mart workers.

In an interview with CBC News, Liquor & Lotteries CEO Gerry Sul saidall of the components of a four-year contract being offered are not being communicated by the union to its members.

"They're affected by this. They've become almost like collateral damage of the union's mission to strike and take job action," SulsaidTuesday.

The workers, who have been without a contract since the previous one expired in March 2022, began a selective strike on July 19, which has previously seen unionized employees refuse to work overtime or receiveshipments.

Signing bonus, additional bumps

Two "significant" offers have been made by Liquor & Lotteries since union members voted to strike last July, according to Sul.

The most recent offer by the Crown corporationincludes a signing bonus for workers who've clocked more than 330 hours in a year, as well as 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, Sul said.

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.

If they were to ratify the agreement,their wages would increaseto $17.68 in October, which would put them at $2.38 above minimum wage, Sul said.That adds up to an about 14 per cent increase pay scale adjustment increase for distribution centre and store employees, and would affect about 800 of the 1,400 unionized MBLL employees.

A conciliator met with the employer on Tuesday, and will meet with the union on Wednesday.

"They have not changed their position," said Sul."They're coming in with the original offer and [are] unwilling to waver from that, so it does strain the conciliation process for sure."

The strike action has led to issues of stockpiling, he said.

"So it's draining the inventory even faster now."

Work is being done to fly management and non-unionized employees up to the retail liquor store in Thompson in order to avoid "social or health-related harms" due to a lack of available alcohol, he said.

Management and non-unionized staff are working in the retail stores, but about two dozen replacement workers have been brought into the distribution centre, he said. The Crown corporation plans to increase that number should the strike action continue.

"Everything's always dependent on the output of the distribution centre," said Sul.

'Desperate threat': union

In a statement to CBC News on Tuesday, MGEU president Kyle Rossdisagreed with the notion that union members are "collateral damage."

"It is Manitobans who are, unfortunately, the collateral damage in this situation," he said in an emailed statement.

Ross said the union is meeting with aconciliator Wednesday, and hadtabled a new proposal as recently as Friday night, but Liquor & Lotteries has refused to budge on its wage offer.

Ross also called theplan to potentially introduce more replacement workers to the distribution centre "a desperate threat."

Sul says unless meaningful dialogue is made at the bargaining table, the strike could continue until Sept. 19, before proceeding into arbitration.

Under current labour laws, parties involved in a labour dispute can apply forbinding arbitrationif a strike or lockout continues for 60 days.

"We would love to expedite itand end it sooner than later, so that Manitobans are not negatively impacted."