B.C.'s liquor and cannabis stores won’t be fully re-stocked for weeks, industry reps say

Weeks after launching a strike that choked the supply of liquor and cannabis products, the B.C. General Employees' Union has paused its job action -- but the impact will likely be felt for weeks to come.

With a massive backlog of orders to clear, industry leaders say customers shouldn't expect a speedy return to pre-strike inventory levels.

“That the golden question right there: When do we get inventory? How much will we be able to get? Who’s going to get inventory first out of all the stores,” said Clayton Chessa, the co-owner of Burb Cannabis. He’s had to close two of his four Metro Vancouver locations because he ran out of product.

Chessa is concerned government cannabis stories may be given priority for re-stocking, which is also a worry for B.C.’s private liquor stores.

“It is a concern in our industry that government stores will get preferential treatment from the government distribution network,” said Darryl Lamb, the brand manager at Legacy Liquor. “But we hope they work on a first come first serve, whoever puts in their orders should be the orders that get picked first.”

Even if the ordering system is equal for all stores, Lamb is warning customers some products may not be back on the shelves until October.

“The first thing they have to do is get the workers back, get the warehouse back up and running, get those trucks on the road. Then it’s trying to refill thousands upon thousand of businesses. It’s going to take weeks to get back to normalcy,” Lamb said.

Jeff Guignard with the Alliance of Beverage Licensees is asking everyone to be patient, saying it won’t be business as usual this Labour Day long weekend at liquor stores or many bars and restaurants.

“For every week the strike went on, we were predicting two to three weeks of recovery time,” said Guignard. “So it could take us up to a month realistically to see those stores back to full capacity.”

He says the strike has highlighted how the government monopoly for sourcing some liquor and all legal cannabis products leaves those industries vulnerable to labour action.

“It’s pretty frustrating when for reasons you have no control over, a labour dispute you’re not a party of, you lose 100 per cent access to your product. So yeah, there are better ways of doing things, and we will be talking to government a lot about that in the days ahead,” said Guignard.

Chessa argues at the very least, the province needs to have a contingency plan in place in the event of further job action. “The ideal would be some diversification of our supply chain, so we have a little more control,” he said.

He’d like to re-open all his Burb Cannabis locations and bring back employees he was forced to lay off. But even though the picket line has come down, he’s still at the mercy of the government, as he waits for his long-awaited product shipments to arrive.

“With the overtime ban being lifted as well, hopefully they can get things flowing and back to normal as quickly as possible,” Chessa said.

The union's decision to pause job action comes amid renewed contract negotiations between the BCGEU – one of the largest public sector unions in the province, representing more than 85,000 employees – and the Public Service Agency.

"The union's overtime ban has ended – effective immediately – and preparations are underway to stand down picket lines at B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch locations," the union said in a news release.

The BCGEU described the decision to stand down as "a sign of good faith," and said the media blackout from both sides would continue.

The union began picketing at several liquor wholesale and distribution locations on Aug. 15. Concerns about dwindling supply later prompted the government to restrict sales for customers at government-run liquor stores.