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.
MTY Food Group Inc. says its profit and revenue both slid in its most recent quarter.
The restaurant franchisor and operator says its net income attributable to owners totalled $34.9 million in its third quarter, compared with $38.9 million a year earlier.
The results for the period ended Aug. 31 amounted to $1.46 per diluted share, down from $1.59 per diluted share a year prior.
The company behind 90 brands including Manchu Wok and Mr. Sub attributed the fall to impairment charges on property, plants and equipment along with intangibles assets.
Its revenue decreased slightly to $292.8 million in the quarter from $298 million a year ago.
While CEO Eric Lefebvre saw the quarter as a sign that the company’s ongoing restructuring is starting to bear fruits, he said the business was also hampered by significant delays in construction and permitting that resulted in fewer locations opening.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
Taiga Motors Corp. says the Superior Court of Québec has approved its sale to a British electric boat entrepreneur.
The Montreal-based maker of snowmobiles and watercraft says it will be purchased by Stewart Wilkinson.
Wilkinson’s family office is behind marine electrification brands that include Vita, Evoy, and Aqua superPower.
Wilkinson and Taiga did not reveal the terms or value of the deal but say Wilkinson will assume Taiga’s debt to Export Development Canada and has committed to funding Taiga’s business plan.
The companies say the transaction will allow them to achieve greater economies of scale and deliver high-performance products at compelling prices to accelerate the electric transition.
The sale comes months after Taiga sought bankruptcy protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to cope with a cash crunch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
Toronto-Dominion Bank is facing fines totalling about US$3.09 billion from U.S. regulators in connection with failures of its anti-money laundering safeguards.
The bank also received a cease-and-desist order and non-financial sanctions from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that put limits on its growth in the U.S. after it was found that TD had “significant, systemic breakdowns in its transaction monitoring program.”
