Subscribe to our newsletter:
Without a contract for eight months, workers at a British Columbia liquor store are being stonewalled by their employer. For four months, the Armstrong Regional Co-op (ARC) Liquor Store in Kelowna has refused to engage after presenting a final offer deemed insulting. To make their voices heard, the workers have gone on strike, which has now lasted over 18 weeks.
Unionized with SEIU Local 2 since last May, these workers are fighting to negotiate their very first collective agreement. They are calling out the Co-op’s hypocrisy and demanding wages that keep up with inflation, urging their employer to live up to its so-called “community values.” In September 2024, the company’s final offer was $19.50 an hour, paired with a meager annual raise of 1%.
Workers at the ARC Liquor store began their unionization drive in December 2023. The Armstrong Regional Co-operative, which had recently acquired their store, removed the option to tip employees at checkout on one of their busiest days of the year. This meant a de facto 15% pay cut without warning. This inciting incident on December 21 prompted the employees to contact the Service Employees International Union. After a 6-month certification process, the union entered negotiations with ARC.
Four days into the negotiations on September 10, after most of the language had been worked out, ARC issued their final offer. They invoked article 70 of B.C.'s Labour Relations Code, attempting to bypass the union and bring the contract directly to the workers. The workers held a strike vote, issued the strike notice later that day, and then began their strike on September 14.
The North Star spoke to Nathan Sanders, a clerk at ARC liquor, who said that “the main thing is wages”. A final offer of $19 an hour and raises of 1% every year for four years would mean a significant pay cut for the workers that doesn't come close to keeping up with inflation. “The co-op talks a lot about respecting our right to collective bargaining and then when we get to wages, it's like, yeah, no, nothing. It was pretty, pretty gross”.
Throughout their months on the picket line, the striking workers have pointed out ARC liquor's hypocrisy. The SEIU Local 2 Instagram page shows video of the workers crashing the Co-op's holiday party, calling them out, asking, “Why do you only pay lip service to your values, and not actively practice them?” while a worker dressed as Santa hands the bosses a big lump of coal.
Five months into the fight against ARC, the workers are “f--king pissed” as Nathan put it. “How do you give back to your community when their average man-hour spending is $19.50 an hour? The average living wage in the Okanagan is $24.47 an hour. Like, great, you donate $2,000 to the food bank that some of us have to f--king use.”
ARC liquor issued a cease and desist letter after the workers crashed their holiday party. They have also been lying to co-op members who call on behalf of the workers, saying that they are negotiating. But Nathan says the only communication the union has received from the co-op since the first week was the previously mentioned cease and desist letter.
At the most recent rally organized by SEIU Local 2 in support of the co-op workers, Paddy, a Kelowna local and Armstrong Regional Co-op member, tore up his membership card on camera in protest. In a video posted to the local's Instagram page, Paddy says: “It bothers me because I've been a union member for 40 years, I've been on strike myself many times… It was always a battle. It's always a battle. We never got anything from nothing. So we did have to fight, we have to fight for it. Make the co-op pay!”