How much money could be made opening public liquor stores on Sunday?
Posted July 2, 2012 3:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The BC government and the BCGEU agree public liquor stores could be open on Sundays, but they can’t agree on how much money that would bring in.
The idea comes as liquor store workers get set to strike at the main warehouse in Vancouver tonight.
Finance Minister Kevin Falcon says having the public liquor shops open on Sundays means overtime.
“The savings they talk about of $100-million actually don’t exist,” he says. “The best that we showed the union was maybe $11-million. So it is not enough to fund the kind of increase they’re looking for.”
“When you actually drill down the numbers–you look at all the overtime costs…when you look at the fact that you’re also cannibalizing sales that are taking place in the private liquor stores on Sundays, the net overall benefit to the government is about $11-million,” he adds.
But BCGEU chief negotiator David Vipond says it’s closer to $100-million, and workers would be paid regular wages.
“Not everybody gets Saturday and Sunday off,” he explains. “That will be the result. Straight time, no overtime.”
Vipond says he thinks the province is playing to its supporters in the private liquor industry.
Public liquor stores workers are set to strike at the main warehouse in Vancouver as well as centres in Kamloops and Victoria.
