Although Manitobans looking to buy alcohol ahead of the long weekend can still visit most Liquor Marts, employees at three more locations will be locked out for the day Friday.
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MBLL) said stores in Dominion Shopping Centre, Transcona Square and Brandon South are closed.
Kyle Ross, President of MGEU, the union representing liquor workers, called the decision to lock out those stores an “unfortunate situation”, as both sides continue to work toward a resolution of the ongoing strike.
“As a good faith gesture, we put forward that we’d open our stores for the (long) weekend, and really it’s unfortunate that the MBLL decided to lock out a bunch of stores right after we announced that,” Ross told 680 CJOB.
“It’s a pretty frustrating situation — our members really want to serve the public. They really love doing the job, they really love the customers… so it’s a really unfortunate situation.”
Ross said the goal has always been to come to a solution, and that workers want to be back on the job and serving Manitobans.
“We’ve been trying to bargain a deal for over a year-and-a-half now. That’s what we want — our members want a fair deal, we want to be treated fairly. We’re hoping to make some ground. We meet again today with conciliation, and we’ll keep working at it, because no one likes a strike and we’re hoping to get this over with.”
The province’s six Liquor Mart Express locations, located in grocery stores, also remain closed until further notice.
Part of the strike action includes not taking inventory or restocking shelves, something the Crown corporation says makes it difficult to keep all locations open.
Labour relations expert Sean McDonald of the Asper School of Business told Global Winnipeg that while every strike has different dynamics, it hasn’t been difficult for the public to get on the side of the striking workers in this case.
“This one really seems to have the support of the public and the support of many,” McDonald said. “We’re not talking about these high-paying jobs, we’re talking about wages that are verging on minimum wage and now they’ve brought in replacement workers, so I think there’s a lot of sympathy for the workers out there.
“When the government is starting to bring in replacement workers, that’s punching down — that’s going after people that really don’t have a lot of other options at the moment.”
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