The union succeeded in pushing back one of the liquor board’s key demands affecting part-time workers, who comprise almost 70 per cent of SEMB members. The SAQ had wanted to assign these workers to only one liquor store instead of to four or five, which is the current arrangement. This would have meant even fewer hours for part-time workers. With the new contract certain SAQ stores will now have priority, but the workers remain assigned to several stores as before.

In addition, the SAQ agreed to one of the union’s central demands around weekend work. In the new contract, schedules that include working both weekend days will be eliminated. But the union accepted the liquor board’s demand for a new category of part-time employees who will only be guaranteed a minimum of between 16 and 19.5 hours of work from Friday to Sunday in one store only. Some unionists see this as a gain for the bosses in their efforts to gain greater control over the workforce.

The six-year contract includes wage increases of 2 percent per year and the board’s agreement to create 200 new full-time positions.

During the strike the SAQ claimed it was maintaining its sales at 92 percent of their pre-strike level. The media published this claim and used it to portray the strike as futile. But since then, facts have come out in the press that suggest the strike had more of an impact than the SAQ bosses would admit. The business section of the February 12 La Presse reported that one distributor of wines in Quebec saw its sales to the SAQ drop by 44 percent.

In addition, the articles by journalists interviewing people leaving the SAQ stores after they opened February 11 revealed that, contrary to the impression created by the big-business press during the strike, many working people refused to cross the picket line during the walkout. “I’ve been buying wine from the grocery store (during the strike). I wouldn’t cross the picket line in solidarity with the workers,” Jocelyne Deschênes told the Gazette. “No way was I going to cross the line,” said Claire Geneau, another shopper quoted by the Montreal daily.

Perhaps the most important result of the strike was its impact on the strikers themselves. The day after the Wal-Mart in Jonquière, Quebec, where unionized workers are negotiating a first contract, announced it was closing, the Gazette interviewed people leaving a Wal-Mart in Brossard whose workers have applied for union certification with the United Food and Commercial Workers. One of those interviewed was a 49-year-old former SAQ striker named Hélène. “They’d all have to try to unionize at the same time. That way if one Wal-Mart branch chose to shut its doors as a warning to those who would dare seek to become unionized, Wal-Mart employees throughout the province could all walk out in protest together.” Having just gone through the SAQ strike, Hélène added, she knows all about strength in numbers.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home