OPSEU and LCBO will return to bargaining table today
The Ontario government is speeding up its plans to offer ready-to-drink beverages and larger beer packs in grocery stores in the province while the LCBO’s retail outlets remain shuttered due to the ongoing strike action by its workers.
In a press release from Monday, July 15, 2024, the Ontario government revealed it is bumping up the date that those in the province will be able to purchase ready-to-drink beverages and large beer pack sizes in licensed grocery stores by allowing those stores to begin ordering these products beginning Thursday, July 18, 2024 and selling them on shelves as soon as they arrive. The original date for this move was scheduled for August 1, 2024, and is part of the first phase of the government’s plan to expand alcohol sales to grocery, convenience and big-box stores within the province.
“Our government is keeping our promise to give people in Ontario choice and convenience while supporting Ontario-made beverage producers across the province, including the Ontario businesses that produce more than 80 per cent of the ready-to-drink beverages sold here in our province,” said Ontario’s Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy.
“This is an important milestone for grocery retailers and consumers alike as we continue our work modernizing Ontario’s alcohol marketplace.”
The Ontario government recently released a searchable and interactive online map allowing consumers in the province to search out retail locations that remain open and able to sell alcohol.
The government has said that it plans to have its plan to expand alcohol sales in Ontario complete by the end of October 2024, where every convenience, grocery and big-box store in the province will be allowed to sell beer, wine, cider and ready-to-drink beverages “if they choose to do so.” The government also estimates that this shift in the vendor landscape in Ontario will allow up to 8,500 new stores to sell these products, which it says is the largest expansion of consumer choice and convenience since the end the Ontario Temperance Act movement, which was in effect from 1916 to 1927.
The move comes in the midst of the ongoing LCBO strike, the first time unionized workers at the stores have gone on strike in its history. The strike is now in its second week of action, which has seen more than 9,000 OPSEU workers walk off the job, leaving LCBO retail locations across the province shuttered. The LCBO has also twice postponed plans it had to offer alternate shopping opportunities, most recently announcing on Sunday, July 14, 2024, it was scrapping plans to open 32 retail locations across Ontario with limited hours if the strike lasted 14 days, which would have seen some stores open up again on Friday, July 19, 2024. The LCBO also previously cancelled plans to re-open some stores last Wednesday to supply its wholesale customers, as per reporting from the CBC.
In late May, CBC News reported on figures it had acquired from the Ontario Ministry of Finance and the LCBO which showed the province is facing a net revenue loss of $150 to $200-million per year as a result of the changes in alcohol sales rules, “in addition to the Beer Store payment.”
In a press release issued this morning, OPSEU noted that its LCBO workers will be returning to the bargaining table with its stated goals of “protecting thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in public revenues generated by the LCBO annually.”
