Management locks out LCBO workers. Which side are you on?
Ford’s plan to privatize the LCBO means $2.5 billion/yr that now funds education, healthcare and public transit will go into the pockets of corporations. How will Ford fund essential services?
Photo credit: Justice for Workers
For the first time since it was established in 1927, 9,000 Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) workers staged a one-day strike on July 5, 2024.
In response, the LCBO, a Crown corporation, announced that it would lockout workers for two weeks. The lockout is what precipitated the somewhat dry summer Ontarians are experiencing so be sure to blame corporate management which is accountable to the Legislative Assembly through the minister of finance, Peter Bethlenfalvy.
As the one-day walk out drew near, Bethlenfalvy issued a written statement doubling down on the Ford government’s commitment to make alcohol, wine and beer readily available in corner and grocery stores.
"We are particularly disappointed that OPSEU is opposed to giving people in Ontario the choice and convenience of buying ready made drinks, like coolers and seltzers, in grocery and convenience stores," Bethlenfalvy wrote.
Yet, the finance minister failed to address how lost public revenues that help fund healthcare, education, public transit and other public services would be sourced and replaced. Nor did he address why the Ford government believes it is in the best interest of Ontarians to have $2.5 billion in public revenue redirected into the pockets of corporations and billionaires on an ongoing yearly basis.
Once again, the Ford government, and Bethlenfalvy in particular in this instance, are playing to the lizard brain of voters instead of the critical thinking portion in the hopes of garnering public support for the destruction of the publicly owned LCBO.
The move to privatize wine, beer and alcohol sales further undermines universal healthcare, public education and public transit funding pushing these systems closer the edge of the abyss of privatization as well.
The premier’s office made it clear that the Ford government is not considering back-to-work legislation to end the lockout initiated by management. I think that may be a first if it were to happen, the Ford government using legislation to force locked out workers back to work after government backed management locked them out of their workplace in the first place.
Should management continue the lockout beyond two weeks, LCBO management plans to open 32 locations across the province three days a week with limited hours.
That means management will be employing scab labour to replace locked out unionized workers fighting to save public services for all Ontarians.
Let me remind you why you should never scab and why you should never cross a picket line.
In Canada, the average chief executive officer (CEO) takes home 243 times more than the average worker earns through their labour. Meanwhile, many workers with full-time jobs live in poverty as do workers working two, three and more jobs.
Scabs, often referred to as ‘replacement workers’ by management, stop the hemorrhaging of profits during contract negotiations. Scabs essentially undermine workers’ rights to fair and open collective bargaining as well as their right to strike. That undermines the overall integrity of the process of bargaining in good faith – something management is generally loath to do.
The only things lower than a scab are the security teams hired to escort scabs across picket lines and the CEOs who hire and pay scabs, and their escorts, in an attempt to bust the LCBO union – and, in this situation, that includes Ford, Bethlenfalvy and all conservative MPPs.
This management orchestrated lockout was a calculated, underhanded continuation of LCBO management bargaining in bad faith while hedging their bets knowing that over 70 per cent of their employees are casual employees — not necessarily by choice — without access to benefits or opportunities to move into permanent part-time, let alone permanent full-time, positions.
Two weeks without a pay cheque will put many LCBO workers on the brink of financial disaster. Continuing the lockout while bringing in scab workers will push many LCBO workers onto the street when they can no longer make their rent.
The LCBO lockout by management is different in the digital age because folks, and businesses like pubs and restaurants, can continue ordering wine and spirits by the case online. That counts as virtual scabbing by order takers and has the same undermining effects as crossing an actual picket line for customers placing online orders.
As public service employees, LCBO workers had their wages capped at one per cent by Ford’s Bill 124: Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector Future passed in 2019.
Bill 124 has twice been found unconstitutional forcing Ford and his government to repeal the law.
Union negotiators haven’t even begun bargaining a wage increase because the Ford government won’t move beyond privatizing beer, wine and alcohol sales. That move foreshadows the fact that ultimately, no LCBO jobs will exist if Ford gets his way.
LCBO wokers are members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and they deserve our support because they are putting themselves on the line standing up to Ford’s plan to privatize the LCBO and divert $2.5 billion each year in much needed public revenue that could fund $10-a-day childcare, autism therapy and make Queens Park, Ontario Parks and provincial buildings accessible for Ontarians with disabilities — AODA compliant — by the mandated deadline of 2025.
LCBO workers are also fighting to keep thousands of good retail jobs in the public sector, improve working conditions and create opportunities for part-time employees to move into full-time positions.
And, if none of that moves you to support LCBO workers, then consider the fact that OPSEU members are trying to prevent customers from paying upwards of 50 per cent more for beer, wine and liquor to corporations like Loblaws, Longo’s, 7-11 and Circle K who keep all the profits rather than returning that money to the public purse to fund a universal guaranteed basic income, livable Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments and create robust publicly funded home care for elders to keep them out of the privatized long-term care (LTC) industrial complex of death.
LCBO workers are on the frontline fighting for our communities, for decent work within those communities and to save essential funding that keeps our communities viable, vital and engaging.
I encourage you to stand in solidarity with LCBO workers who planned to stage a one-day strike only to be locked out indefinitely by a management team bargaining in bad faith and backed by an authoritarian, libertarian, corporate fascist conservative government.
I remind you to join a picket line for an hour or two, honk in support when you drive by locked out LCBO workers’ picket lines and never, ever cross a real or virtual picket line or scab!
So, now’s the time to ask yourself, Which Side Are You On?
Justice for Workers makes it easy to stand in solidarity with locked out LCBO workers using actions that can be found in their tool kit:
How You Can Help
2. Send an email to Doug Ford and tell him you support LCBO workers
3. Make your support visible on social media and at your local LCBO
Take a photo of yourself holding this poster and post it to social media.
Tag Justice for Workers and OPSEU: @fairwagesnow and @OPSEUUse these hashtags: #SuportLCBOWorkers #KeepLCBOpublic #Justice4Workers #LCBOStrike
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change
I feel so angry when our tax money for education and health care is being rolled over to corporation profits. I support workers, the union.
More good ‘ living wage’ jobs - full time jobs - justice for workers is needed.