LCBO workers narrowly approve new four-year contract

TORONTO – Employees at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario have ratified a new four-year contract, but just barely.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says LCBO workers voted 56 per cent in favour of a tentative agreement in voting held Tuesday and Wednesday.

READ MORE: Strike averted as LCBO, workers reach tentative settlement

The agreement, which was signed in late June with the help of a mediator, came just as the 8,000 unionized employees were set to begin a strike.

OPSEU says the new deal caps the number of casual workers at the LCBO at 70 per cent from the current 84 per cent, and commits the agency to reach the 70 per cent mark within the life of the four-year contract.

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The union says the deal also increases job security, improves scheduling, and brings an end to the practice of scheduling workers for two-hour shifts.

The LCBO workers had been without a contract since the end of March and had voted 93 per cent in favour of a strike in April.