New contract in hand, Liquor Mart doors reopen

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This article was published 28/08/2023 (741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in more than a month, Lois Kunkel’s 91-year-old mother will be able to enjoy her nightly glass of scotch.

“It’s her one pleasure every evening,” Kunkel said with a laugh, as she exited a Liquor Mart near the intersection of Portage Avenue and Burnell Street. “Gin did not do it. The old mother wanted her scotch, even though she’s a union supporter.”

The Winnipeg store was among dozens in the province temporarily shuttered amid a recent strike by Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union liquor workers that began July 19 and ended Sunday.

Union members voted to accept a new four-year contract with employer Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp.

By 10:30 a.m. Monday, roughly a dozen employees were inside the Portage-Burnell store, with several pushing carts laden with alcohol and working to replenish barren shelves and fridges.

Workers at Liquor Mart locations across the province were doing the same, with nearly all stores reopening to customers (one location in Brandon and another in Winnipeg opened only for commercial buyers). Union members returned to work at MLL’s liquor distribution centre in Winnipeg on Sunday evening.

Kunkel and friend Bob Haverluck had arrived shortly after opening to restock their personal supplies, which were depleted while the union and Crown corporation struggled to reach terms.

Both said they supported workers’ rights to negotiate for higher wages and were pleased the dispute is over.

“It had some inconvenience, but it was a greater inconvenience for (workers). This is just one indicator of a larger problem of this province and the government,” Haverluck said, referencing other recent wage disputes involving health-care unions.

“Across the board, there’s a need for fair deals.”

Strike highlights issues for distillers

Brock Coutts, owner of Winnipeg-based Patent 5 Distillery, said the prolonged closures highlighted an issue with the MLL’s distribution system, which does not allow craft distilleries to sell spirits outside of Liquor Marts.

In contrast, craft brewers producing beer and coolers were able to continue sales to vendors and licensees throughout the strike.

“Local businesses that hosted events that needed spirits couldn’t get them — local distillers that had spirits for those people couldn’t sell it to them. In my opinion, it just speaks to the ridiculous bureaucracy that MLL puts in place for distillers but not for brewers,” Coutts said Monday, speaking by phone.

“It just highlighted that if any part of that system breaks we’re effectively shut out of our distribution system.”

“It just speaks to the ridiculous bureaucracy that MLL puts in place for distillers but not for brewers.”–Brock Coutts

Patent 5 was able to sell directly to consumers from its 108 Alexander Ave. location, which saw an uptick in traffic that mitigated revenue losses, Coutts said. However, being shut out of the broader market during the peak of summer was frustrating, he added.

As of Monday, the distillery was inundated with an excess of product and Coutts was eager to get it back on Liquor Mart shelves.

“I would think if you figured it out to make it work for the brewers, you could figure out how to make it work for craft distillers.”

Review planned to modernize system: MLL

MLL president Gerry Sul said the Crown corporation is planning to do just that, with an ongoing review of the technical system used to manage inventory, fulfill orders and collect provincial alcohol markups.

The current system was created in the 1970s to service beer producers and needs to be modernized to accommodate distilleries, Sul said, adding the issue is complicated.

He estimated the first phase of the review will be complete sometime in summer 2024.

Meantime, MLL is focusing on restarting operations post-strike.

“The feedback I’m getting is employees were tired and they’re excited to get back,” Sul said. “The best part about this is getting those people back into the workplace and re-establishing a caring and collaborative work environment with them. Nobody wins in a strike.”

“Nobody wins in a strike.”–Gerry Sul

Staff are now working to mitigate any potential lasting impacts from the strike, particularly in terms of distribution and product levels ahead of the holiday season, Sul said.

“Our goal is to pick up the pace and make sure the availability of product during Christmas is not hampered, and I believe that we can get there. I think the strike ended just in time to not negatively impact it.”

Despite the successful negotiations, the union and MLL continued to trade blows through the weekend, accusing each other of unfairly representing the deal.

The Free Press reviewed the new contract agreement, which includes universal and compounding wage increases totalling approximately 12 per cent over four years.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

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Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.