LCBO and OPSEU announce tentative deal, strike averted
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

LCBO stores will be open for the Canada Day long weekend after the liquor control board and its worker’s union reached a tentative deal to avoid a strike.Ontario Public Service Employees Union and LCBO management announced the news 30 minutes after their 12:01 a.m. Monday deadline.Details of the agreement will not be disclosed until the union shares with the 8,000 unionized LCBO workers.OPSEU President Warren Thomas said the deal came as the result of the tireless efforts of union members.“I want to thank these workers for taking a stand against the negative impacts of precarious work, which is a sad fact of life for far too many workers today,” said Thomas.Details of the bargaining process and updates were under a “media blackout” that OPSEU says was imposed by a conciliator Saturday morning.The union’s bargaining team chair Denise Davis said they are unanimously recommending the deal to their members.“The deal we are looking at today is only possible because of the tireless work of OPSEU members across the province who built public support for our plan for a better LCBO,” said Davis, in a press release issued early Monday.The ratification date has not been set.LCBO workers, who have been without a contract since March 31, voted overwhelmingly in April in favour of giving the union a strike mandate.The union was asking for more certainty over scheduling and guarantees about full-time jobs. Eighty-four per cent of LCBO workers are part-time.“We do not want a strike ... we want a decent contract that addresses quality of life workplace issues at the LCBO,” said Thomas ahead of Sunday’s deadline.Thomas later said he was confident an agreement would be worked out.Most LCBO stores had extended hours this past week to maximize service for customers in anticipation of a potential strike. With files from The Canadian Press