The owner of a private liquor vendor in eastern Manitoba says he may be out of inventory by this weekend due to the ongoing strike by Liquor & Lotteries workers.
Ray Schirle, the mayor of Beausejour, co-owns a campground resort in nearby Lac du Bonnet that includes a liquor vendor.
People are driving more than an hour from Winnipeg just to purchase alcohol at his store, he said Thursday — a sign they’re getting desperate.
“We weren’t open yesterday, and people were there begging us to sell them liquor,” he said.
Five Winnipeg stores are being kept open by managers, along with one each in Brandon and Thompson.
The full strike is the latest escalation in a weeks-long labour dispute between Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries and the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, which represents about 1,400 Liquor Mart workers.
While Schirle says his store has been able to stay open during the strike, he gets his supply from Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, so it’s impacting his inventory.
Manitoba liquor workers’ strike shows no signs of drying up
The union representing striking Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries workers accused the employer of a double standard, saying top managers are getting wage increases well above what union members are being offered.
He’s been able to keep beer and coolers in stock through private suppliers, but even those are running low, Schirle said.
With so little inventory, he said he’s had to turn down customers looking for alcohol for events.
“One couple came in last week because they have a wedding event in three weeks.… They never even thought about their liquor until the last minute,” he said.
“They were pretty upset,” he said — not with him, but “with the process that they couldn’t have any alcohol, or their preference, at their yard wedding.”
Even if the strike ends soon, Schirle says it will be awhile before things are back to normal for him and other private vendors, since Liquor & Lotteries will have to restock its Liquor Mart locations first.
“Then basically all the rural locations get what’s left over,” he said.
“I think we’ll get some stuff, but we won’t be full cycle for at least a month, going on two months, [in] my opinion.”
Sales down
Alcohol brands are feeling the pinch too, says Flavia Fabio, a provincial sales manager for a national wine and spirits agency.
With operations at the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries distribution centre also impacted, Fabio says the businesses she represents aren’t able to get their products on shelves since everything is stored at the centre.
“It’s impacting [them] big time,” she said. “Sales are plummeting because people cannot access products.”
Fabio says she’s feeling the pressure from those businesses.
“It’s hard for them to understand, but there’s very little we can do.… It’s an extreme situation right now.”
If the strike drags on, Fabio says she’s going to have to drive wine to a fundraising event in Flin Flon herself.
Union misrepresenting execs’ pay: Liquor & Lotteries
On Thursday, MGEU pulled out annual compensation reports that show two top executives —CEO Gerry Sul and executive vice-president Robert Holmberg — made almost $250,000 last year and received an annual average pay increase of four per cent between 2018 and 2022.
Meanwhile, wages for liquor workers increased by an annual average of 0.43 per cent during the same time span, according to the union.
“We are not asking for buckets of cash. We’re asking for fairness,” union president Kyle Ross said at a Thursday news conference, which was held alongside a rally outside Premier Heather Stefanson’s constituency office.
Kyle Ross, president of MGEU, is shown speaking at a press conference held alongside a rally outside of Premier Heather Stefanson’s constituency office. (Ian Froese/CBC)
In a statement to CBC News on Thursday, Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries says the union is misrepresenting how much money top executives are making, as they get the same annual increases as everyone else at the Crown corporation.
Sul and Holmberg’s total compensation figures provided by the union on Thursday also include their benefits, payouts for vacation and salary changes as both men took on different jobs, according to Liquor & Lotteries.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
