SAQ union members vote for 15-day strike mandate
Negotiations with the employer have stalled for a year, union says
Unionized office and store employees of Quebec's liquor board, the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), have voted for a 15-day strike mandate.
In a news release Saturday morning, the union said that 89 per cent of employees affected voted in favour of the 15-day strike mandate. But it did not specify how many people voted at general meetings held throughout the week.
The union, which represents 5,000 employees in SAQ stores and offices throughout Quebec and is affiliated with the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), says negotiations with the employer have stalled for a year.
It is criticizing the lack of job security and says the salary issue has not been addressed yet. Full-time positions and work schedules are the main sticking points, the union said.
"We wanted to make a statement to the employer that we are serious about our demands," union vice-president Alexandre Bolduc said in an interview, adding work-life balance and workplace health and safety are among the main points of contention in the dispute.
Bolduc said employees of the liquor store, commonly known as the SAQ, currently lack training to deal with what he described as an increase in the number of aggressive customers in urban stores since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Seventy per cent of SAQ employees are part-time, have no idea of their schedule two weeks in advance and never know if they will have a full week of work," union president Lisa Courtemanche said in a statement.
"We're looking to reduce the precarity," she said in an interview. "We don't have anyone left who wants to come and work at the SAQ. Our young colleagues are going elsewhere."
Other demands include adding permanent positions, training and increasing the number of wine advisors and branch co-ordinators.
A spokesperson for SAQ declined to comment on the union's claims, but said the company is committed to reaching a labour agreement that is "satisfactory" to both parties. The SAQ says it has a plan to maintain service in the event of a strike, but urged customers to monitor its website to see which stores would remain open.
The employer said the 15 strike days can be split up and that it will try to ensure continuity of service.
Based on reporting by La Presse Canadienne and the Canadian Press
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