We need to talk.
That’s the message from the LCBO to more than 9,000 Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members whose strike has shuttered 680 liquor stores for a week.
“We are at the table ready for active negotiations to restart today,” the Liquor Control Board of Ontario said in a statement Thursday.
The LCBO’s move comes the day after Premier Doug Ford personally intervened in the labour dispute, imploring OPSEU to resume bargaining.
“On Thursday, July 4, the LCBO made a very fair offer that included wage increases, improved access to benefits, and provided for additional job security for workers,” the Crown booze giant said.
“Instead of responding to this offer or sitting down to talk about it, OPSEU held a press conference to announce it was going on strike over the issue of ready-to-drink beverages,” it continued.
“Two days ago, the president of OPSEU appeared to indicate that ready-to-drink beverages was no longer the union’s top issue, saying instead job security was its chief concern. We are ready to talk about job security. We are ready to talk about wages. We are ready to talk about benefits,” the LCBO statement continued.
“If OPSEU is now prepared to agree that ready-to-drink beverages are a matter of public policy and not something that should be discussed as part of bargaining, we strongly encourage them to respond to our July 4 offer.”
In an interview with the Star late Wednesday, OPSEU president JP Hornick said Ford “would be welcome to join us (at the negotiating table) when we get there.”
“I’m even happier they’re prepared to present an offer that provides job security for our members … this fight has been about two things for the entire time: protecting jobs in our communities and … protecting the public revenue,” said Hornick.
But the union leader said it was “a lie” for Ford, who said he has spoken to “hundreds” of strikers over the past days, to claim OPSEU hadn’t shared the LCBO’s final offer with members.
“We never walked away from the table,” said Hornick.
On Wednesday, Ford, who is spending between $225 million and $1 billion to expedite booze liberalization to allow beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails in convenience stores, supermarkets and big-box outlets by Oct. 31, urged the parties to restart talks.
“These folks don’t want to be sitting out in the 100-degree weather or the pouring rain, they want to work, they want to get a deal,” he said at Etobicoke’s Cool Beer Brewing Co. on Evans Avenue.
“We should be at the table — that strike should never, ever have happened. We didn’t walk away from the table, OPSEU walked away from the table,” said Ford, pointing out the LCBO’s last offer would give full-time jobs to 400 casual employees and give all workers seven per cent raises over three years.
However Colleen MacLeod, chair of the union’s liquor board employees division and bargaining team, accused the premier of “lying about the LCBO’s offer.”
“We didn’t walk away from the table — the LCBO told us not to come back unless we were willing to give up on our core demands that included job security and growing the LCBO to meet demand and improve convenience,” MacLeod said Wednesday.
“We would rather be back at work, or at least back at the bargaining table, working to find a deal. That’s why we were thrilled to hear that Doug Ford wants us back at the table with the LCBO — and that they are prepared to present an offer that provides job security for our members. Doug Ford is welcome to join those talks.”
Ford has said while sales will be expanded to more than 8,000 other private retailers in the coming months, the LCBO will maintain monopoly on the sale of spirits such as whisky, rum, gin and vodka and serve as the wholesale distributor.
“We’re not privatizing the LCBO, we aren’t selling the LCBO — we’re not putting spirits into the retail stores, the big box stores,” said Ford.
The OPSEU members hit the bricks last Friday, closing the LCBO for the first time in its 97-year history.
Six weeks ago, Ford announced the scheme to pay The Beer Store $225 million to expedite the previously announced Dec. 31, 2025 deadline for expanded alcohol liberalization, which began under former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government a decade ago.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, who backs the strikers, has warned Ford’s plan could actually cost taxpayers $1 billion.
