Local employees with the LCBO were feeling slightly more hopeful on the picket line this afternoon as their union — which represents 10,000 striking workers in the province — headed back to the bargaining table on Wednesday morning.
Workers walked off the job on July 5 in a dispute that the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has said is largely about Premier Doug Ford's plan to allow convenience and grocery stores to sell ready-to-drink cocktails.
Kristin Williamson, one of the picket captains with OPSEU Local 602, is keeping her fingers crossed that a reasonable deal comes forward — and soon.
“We’re very excited everyone’s back at the table,” she told SooToday. “We want to get back to work, and we’re hoping things start moving and we get a good, fair deal for everyone.”
For the past five years, Williamson has also served as a casual customer service representative with one of the LCBO stores in town.
She wants to ensure casual workers like herself are protected amid some of the changes the province is promising to implement, specifically surrounding expanded sales of ready-to-drink beverages.
“Around 70 per cent of us, if not more, are casual workers,” she said. “With the expansion, our big concern is: Will we have jobs two or three years from now? As sales start to go down, we don’t get scheduled. I don’t think people realize that. It’s very hard.”
“We can’t lose that public revenue, we’re already hurting,” she added. “Here in Sault Ste. Marie, there’s over 10,000 people without a doctor. Last year alone, more than 1,200 emergency rooms had to shut their doors. We can’t be forcing things into more privatization.”
OPSEU noted in a statement that it will present a plan for protecting jobs and the public revenues that LCBO sales bring in at the bargaining table Wednesday.
"When the team presents their plan, we’ll see if LCBO management is really working towards these shared interests for workers and everyone in Ontario," the union wrote.
Ford has firmly ruled out a reversal on the ready-to-drink expansion, saying the ship had sailed "halfway across Lake Ontario."
Williamson was joined by upwards of 60 people on Great Northern Road on day 13 of the strike, which included support from a number of other unions like the United Steelworkers, CUPE, and Unifor.
“We have had unbelievable support, even just here in our community of Sault Ste. Marie,” she said. “We’re really trying to make the best of it because it’s been very stressful. But we’re all supporting each other, and we’re hoping come the weekend we’ll be back at work.”
— with files from The Canadian Press