The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) has reached an agreement in principle with the government to give 500 of its B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) workers “employment security”, the union announced Monday.
The deal sets the stage for the B.C. government to privatize liquor warehousing and distribution.
“We think the government’s decision to sell off the LDB warehouses is dead wrong,” said BCGEU president Darryl Walker. “Still, we’re pleased we were able to win protection for our members.”
Details of the agreement were not immediately released. It is expected to be rubberstamped by cabinet before April 1.
Finance minister Kevin Falcon announced on budget day, February 21, that $706 million worth of provincial property would be sold.
When the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission hired private warehouser Tibbett and Britten in 1994, most of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees members left with severance packages. Tibbett and Britten was purchased by Exel Logistics in 2004.
The B.C. LDB request for proposals has not been published and Exel is considered a frontrunner.
Exel, the world’s largest third-party logistics company, hired lobbyist and B.C. Liberal strategist Patrick Kinsella in the mid-2000s to convince the government to privatize liquor distribution. The lobbyist registry form for Kinsella’s Progressive Group also includes Rob Madore, the former general manager of Exel’s Alberta subsidiary, Connect Logistics.
The 300,000-square-foot LDB warehouse and retail store at 3150 East Broadway, valued by the City of Vancouver at $21.414 million, would be the biggest parcel available in the Grandview Boundary Industrial Area near the Rupert and Renfrew SkyTrain stations.
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