Ontario liquor store workers set to strike

TORONTO, June 23 (UPI) -- Some 6,000 employees of Ontario's provincial liquor retailing corporation were poised to strike at midnight Tuesday over part-time workers' rights.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario's collective contract expired March 31, and workers gave the Ontario Public Service Employees Union a 93 percent vote last month to strike, the Toronto Star reported.

Apart from private wine stores, wine and liquor can only be sold in the province by the board's retail outlets.

The key issue in the labor dispute is the board's policy on part-time workers, now about 57 percent of the workforce, the Toronto Sun said.

Union spokeswoman Patty Rout told the Star that 20 years ago, almost all jobs were full-time.

"Now 60 percent are part-time or casual, people making $10 to $17 an hour, making less than $20,000 a year," she said.

LCBO worker Craig Hadley told the Sun casual employees don't receive vacation, sick time or benefits and can be called in for as little as two hours work at a time.

The possibility of a strike comes as 30,000 city of Toronto workers entered their second day of a walkout leaving the city without garbage collection, ferry service and municipal swimming pool maintenance.