Frustrated local breweries are watching their sales dry up as a provincewide strike that has shuttered most Manitoba Liquor Marts enters its second week.
“(We) lost the biggest customer,” Sean Shoyoqubov, founder of Oxus Brewing Company in St. James, said Sunday, explaining that Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries makes up at least 60 per cent of Oxus’s beer sales.
An ongoing wage dispute between Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MLL) and about 1,400 striking members of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) has closed most Liquor Mart locations across the province.
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
“(We) lost the biggest customer,” Sean Shoyoqubov, founder of Oxus Brewing Company in St. James, said Sunday, explaining that Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries makes up at least 60 per cent of Oxus’s beer sales.
On Saturday and Sunday, just two Liquor Marts in Winnipeg were open.
And that has some local breweries worried their beer — and sales — will go down the drain.
Since MLL must approve new beer listings, Shoyoqubov said, Oxus has a 3,000-litre batch, equivalent to 6,000 cans, sitting in limbo.
The IPA’s application will remain pending while the strike continues, Shoyoqubov said.
“It is time sensitive. You have to release that (beer) at its peak,” he said. “Most probably, that beer will be a dumper… depending on when the strike ends.”
The beer in question has an overall retail value of $25,000, Shoyoqubov said.
The strike has also paused sales between Stone Angel Brewing Company and its largest buyer.
“It’s poor for business,” said Paul Clerkin, the brewery’s co-owner. “The liquor commission has enormous buying power.”
Stone Angel is also hit two-fold by the strikes: MLL isn’t ordering their beer, and it’s not completing the paperwork necessary for breweries to sell new products to private vendors and other customers, Clerkin said.
“We still have to pay rent and payroll,” Shoyoqubov from Oxus noted. “If (the strike) lasts for another month or two, there’s a good chance some breweries might be in big trouble.”
A majority of his sales — roughly 70 per cent — happen during the summer months, he said.
“Summer’s supposed to be the time to sell lots of beer. You hear the saying, ‘You have to make hay when the sun shines.’ The sun is shining, and nobody can make hay,”– Colin Koop, co-owner of Devil May Care Brewery
“Summer’s supposed to be the time to sell lots of beer,” said Colin Koop, co-owner of Devil May Care Brewery. “You hear the saying, ‘You have to make hay when the sun shines.’ The sun is shining, and nobody can make hay.”
His brewery isn’t affected: Devil May Care doesn’t currently sell in MLL outlets.
However, Koop and his partners had been considering selling in MLL’s Liquor Marts.
“Now that we’re looking at it, I’m not totally sure that I want to do that, in the short-term,” Koop said, adding he’d like to see “real stability” before taking the business step.
Meantime, private vendors inside Winnipeg and beyond are seeing more sales.
“It’s been busier on the hard liquor side,” Braden Hill said, referring to coolers and similar drinks sold at The Bottle Stop.
The employee has noticed an “uptick” in business.
Derek Brennan resorted to buying alcohol from an outlet in a nearby grocery store to keep the beer vendor and bar in Mountain Motor Inn stocked.
Buying liquor for the Stony Mountain company has become difficult; it orders through Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, Brennan said.
“I’ve run out of a few things, but I’ve still got a lot of the main stuff that I need,” he said.
He replenished right before the strike.
Things could change if the strike continues, he added — people are loading up at the beer vendor, and the nearby grocery store has “pretty bare” alcohol shelves.
Crestview and St. Vital had the only two open liquor marts in Winnipeg Sunday. The Crestview location was busy, but less so than its “crazy busy” counterpart early in the afternoon, a Crestview employee said on the phone.
The union representing striking MLL workers didn’t have an update on negotiations Sunday.
“As far as I know… the employer has not moved an inch since the strike began. We’re ready to go to work once we get a fair deal,”– Kyle Ross, president of the MGEU
“As far as I know… the employer has not moved an inch since the strike began,” said Kyle Ross, president of the MGEU. “We’re ready to go to work once we get a fair deal.”
Union members have been without a contract since March of 2022. They want raises in line with those obtained by Premier Heather Stefanson and her cabinet — 3.3 per cent in 2023, and 3.6 per cent in both 2024 and 2025.
MLL is offering a two-per-cent raise per year over four years, and raising the hourly starting wage $2.38 above the province’s minimum wage.
The current starting hourly wage for MLL workers is $14.91, increasing to $15.30 in October in line with the raise in minimum wage.
The last liquor-related dispute in Manitoba happened in October of 1978, when workers struck for seven weeks.
Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries didn’t respond to requests for comment by print deadline. A reduced number of liquor marts are scheduled to open today. A full list, along with hours, are online at liquormarts.ca/hours.
With files from Tyler Searle
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle Piché
Reporter
Gabby is a big fan of people, writing and learning. She graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in the spring of 2020.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndpbm5pcGVnZnJlZXByZXNzLmNvbS9icmVha2luZ25ld3MvMjAyMy8wOC8xMy9saXF1b3Itd29ya2Vycy1zdHJpa2UtbGVhdmVzLWJyZXdlcnMtaW4tbGltYm_SAQA?oc=5
2023-08-13 23:07:17Z
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