It is becoming a familiar sight outside government buildings and B.C. liquor stores across the province.
This has been the longest service worker strike in B.C.’s history, with more than 15,000 workers now engaged in job action, including workers at 77 B.C. liquor stores and those at the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Other unions, which were also in contract talks with the province, have stood in solidarity with BCGEU.
As the strike drives on now about to head into its fifth week, other industry leaders are warning that restaurants, bars, breweries, and cannabis dispensaries could start to feel the pinch as their stock runs dry.
“If you take a medium-sized restaurant, they generally get their orders maybe once a week,” said Ian Tostenson, President of the BC Restaurant and Foodservice Association, to CityNews.
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“They don’t have the cash. They don’t have the place to store their inventory. So, they’re probably short right now. The bigger restaurant groups, they could [have] seen this and bought ahead, but even the big guys start running out of popular stuff.”
Restaurant leaders say it’s time for the government to reassess how liquor distribution is managed as a whole.
“There is still a prohibition-type attitude that exists in British Columbia. But the one thing they have never done is accepted that there is a private sector that’s grown up,” Tostenson said.
“Now we’re stuck with having to buy from government liquor stores. One of the things that we will be talking to the government about, when this is all over, is our ability to have more flexibility so that we can buy products directly from warehouses or directly from the private sector.”
After the government and the B.C. Government Employees Union had initially returned to the negotiation table on Monday morning, the talks collapsed again shortly after, according to the BCGEU.
Until the deal is reached, picket lines will stay up.
With files from Jan Schuermann.