Reaction swift to SLGA liquor stores closing

Between 200 and 300 people braved the chilly weather Thursday morning to show the provincial government just what they thought of the decision to shut down Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority liquor stores.

The decision to get the government out of the retail liquor business and close 34 SLGA stores was announced in Wednesday’s speech from the throne.

During a rally at the Legislative Building, hands brandished signs and union flags, and voices cheered and chanted things like “Shame” and “Scott Moe’s got to go.”

There were people from several different unions there, many from the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) convention happening elsewhere in Regina. But some were SGEU members who are going to be losing their jobs.

Dakota Rejc has worked at an east Regina SLGA store for a little over a year. She said she heard the news Wednesday when she walked in for her shift.

“I walked into work at like 3:40 and the first thing I was told is that we’re eventually losing our jobs so (that) kind of killed the mood for the rest of the shift. People didn’t know what to do and are like, ‘How am I going to pay mortgages?’ ” said Rejc.

She’s a university student and this job is how she pays her rent. Rejc said it’s hard knowing she’s going to have to find another job because it was difficult to get this one.

“I applied to multiple jobs before this one and I couldn’t even got a job with Wal-Mart, and I have seven years of retail,” she said.

Rejc called the SLGA minister’s suggestion that people just go find another job “a load of bullcrap.”

“There are people who have worked with the company for 20 years and they might have a chance at getting a job, but it’s not going to be one that’s anywhere compared to what they have now,” she said.

Trish Jackman was wearing a sign as well. She works at the SLGA store in Moose Jaw. She said she heard she would be losing her job on the news Wednesday night and she was still shocked the next morning.

“I’m feeling for everybody in this situation, and there’s so many people where this was their primary income. There’s so many people who’re single parents, there’s so many people involved and I’m thinking of all of them — it’s going to affect a lot of lives and families,” said Jackman.

She’d worked at the store for close to 20 years and said she’d thought she’d be retiring from there, but now she’s going to have to figure out another plan.

It seems the workers won’t go down without a fight. Bob Stadnichuk is a vice-president for the retail regulatory sector as part of SGEU and spoke for the union on Thursday.

He’s going to lose his job as well with this decision.

“For them to come around and just, literally, hit us in the side of the head with this throne speech was devastating for us. We don’t really know how to react yet; we’re still trying to work it through,” said Stadnichuk.

He said they’re working with committees and trying to come up with some strategies to fight this decision but they’re still at the planning stage.

Several other unions were in attendance at the rally Thursday and spoke in support of the SLGA workers. Stadnichuk said the SGEU didn’t have that kind of support when it fought the first round of liquor store closures and he hopes this is the start of something better.

“This is just SLGA; this is just our public liquor stores. For them to sit up there and say that, ‘We’re not going to touch SaskPower (and) we’re not going to touch SaskEnergy,’ I think the public is deluding themselves if they think that that’s not going to happen next,” he said.

Jobs lost without notice

SFL president Lori Johb said that union has strong messages for the provincial government about the closures.

A worker puts the finishing touches on posters that were to be on display at an SFL rally in Regina on Oct. 27, 2022. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

“That is disrespectful, that is not fair, and we cannot have a provincial government that treats working people that way,” said Johb.

Johb claimed the workers didn’t receive any notification before the throne speech that their jobs would be lost.

“They are absolutely in shock because they didn’t know that this was coming,” said Johb, who explained it wasn’t fair for the public to find out before SLGA employees did.

Johb said “no logic” went into the provincial government’s decision by eliminating one aspect of a Crown corporation that’s dedicated to putting resources and public services back into the province.

“When you support a public liquor store, all the revenues went back into your community,” said Johb. “It went back into the community so that it could be put back into services like highways, like hospitals, like care — all the things that people expect from their public services.”

More details revealed

The provincial government made the official announcement about the closures Thursday, with a few more details.

Lori Carr, the minister responsible for the SLGA, said it’s no longer feasible for the province to keep running the retail stores. She said they’re making less and less money and will start to lose money soon — though Standichuk disagrees.

This fiscal year, the government said the stores are expected to bring in a net income of about $385,000 compared to a $3.2-million profit in 2021-22.

“If we go into losses on liquor sales, that’s going to take away from possibly building a new hospital, or putting it into roads or capital expenditures on, really, the business that government should be doing,” said Carr.

When asked about wages for workers who have to find other jobs, Carr said private operators will figure that out.

“I’m not here to tell them what they should be paying,” said Carr.

But Carr did say some private liquor store operators now are paying comparable wages to SLGA stores.

Carr said she can’t predict what jobs those people might get in the future, but she hopes they get the best-paying job they can.

Neither the workers nor their unions were told ahead of time the employees soon would be losing their jobs. Carr said that’s just how it happened.

“The way it worked out, the throne speech happened (Wednesday) and our announcement was (Thursday),” said Carr.

She said this is the way the decision was made and they can’t take it back.

The closing dates for the stores will vary, but all of the remaining 34 stores are expected to be closed by the end of March. The online auctions for their liquor permits will begin early next year.

The physical assets like buildings and fixtures will be sold in a separate process.

The SLGA’s wholesale liquor distribution business will continue as is.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie