Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province learned some powerful lessons during the two-week LCBO strike that came to a turbulent end over the weekend.
“People were still able to get their alcohol. I knew this, but it just confirmed it,” he told reporters at a press conference in Kitchener on Monday morning.
It was the first time LCBO workers had walked off the job in the history of the Crown corporation, and Ford shared what he thought was one of the main lessons from the strike.
“Mess with anyone, but don’t mess around with people’s booze in Ontario because they aren’t too happy,” he said.
LCBO stores across the province are set to reopen on Tuesday after a new contract was ratified by employees on Sunday to put an end to the strike.
The deal was initially announced on Friday by the LCBO and the union but things were soon up-in-the-air as the employees asked the booze retailer to sign a return-to-work protocol which would have seen wages paid out for the two-week strike, according to Ford.
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“Imagine if I was taking your tax dollars for paying people that weren’t working?,” Ford asked Monday.
Both sides accused one another of bargaining in bad faith on Friday, with the LCBO threatening to file an unfair labour practice complaint.
But by Saturday the issue had been cleared up with both sides signing off on the new deal before it was ratified by union employees a day later.
“We got the deal signed. People are back to work,” Ford said.
“Everyone’s going to have a great, a great summer.”
The LCBO published details of the agreement on Friday, which includes an eight per cent wage increase over three years, the conversion of about 1,000 casual employees to permanent part-time positions and no store closures over the course of the agreement.
One of the main sticking points of the strike was a move by the province which will see the ready-to-drink cocktails end up on the shelves of convenience and grocery stores, a move which breaks up the LCBO monopoly.
Ford said the product only accounts for nine per cent of LCBO sales and believes the retailer will thrive despite opening the market.
“It all comes down to the market and the people dictate no matter what industry, what sector,” the premier said.
“And you give quality service a quality product at a competitive price. That’s what they’re doing. They’re coming to your store.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
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