Latest Quebec union pressure tactic? Hide-and-go-drink
Workers flip bottles around on store shelves
MONTREAL • Quebec unions have a reputation for inventive pressure tactics, from police officers clad in neon camouflage pants to ambulances arriving at calls covered in “on strike” stickers.
But unionized employees of the provincial liquor board, the Société des alcools du Québec, have come up with a new one. As contract talks lag, workers have begun turning bottles backwards on the shelves, making it harder for customers to find what they’re looking for.
At one Montreal outlet Wednesday, most of the wine and liquor bottles were flipped around; an employee explained the tactic reinforces in the public’s mind the value of a staff that knows the products.
Not everyone is amused. Mathieu Gaudreault, a spokesman for the liquor board, said it has been receiving complaints from customers who have come across the backwards bottles. He could not say how many stores have been affected or how many complaints were received.
“The SAQ is tolerant of pressure tactics during negotiations, but it was always our wish that these tactics not have an impact on customer service,” he said.
The bottle-turning is just the latest salvo in the union’s attempt to advance its cause at the negotiating table. In November, union members were encouraged to shed their uniform pants in favour of something more comfortable — jeans, sweats or even pyjama bottoms.
In May, the uniform boycott extended to SAQ shirts, meaning customers cannot be certain whether the person in T-shirt and jeans offering advice on wine-food pairings is an employee or a know-it-all neighbour.
Store windows have been plastered with brightly coloured union stickers declaring, in French, “We want a good contract.” In some cases, the stickers are so plentiful that it is impossible to see inside.
Gaudreault said that when that happens, the SAQ hires a cleaner and sends the union the bill. But union president Katia Lelièvre said she has ignored the bills and has no intention of paying them.
The 5,500 members of the SAQ store and office workers union, affiliated with the Confederation of National Trade Unions, voted 91 per cent in favour of a six-day strike when the leadership deems the moment is right.
Negotiations in the presence of a mediator are set to resume Thursday, but Lelièvre said patience is wearing thin.
“People are angry, considering that business is good for the SAQ ,” she said.
She said the union’s two main concerns involve the scheduling of work. Management is seeking changes to the contract that would require full-time employees to work more weekend days, she said, and it is resisting the union’s request for more guaranteed working hours for part-time employees.
Gaudreault said the SAQ needs its full-time employees to work more on the weekend, because that is when stores are busiest. He said 74 per cent of SAQ sales occur from Thursday to Sunday.
“We want the hours worked to better reflect the sales and the times when customers are in the stores,” he said.
Lelièvre said the bottleturning is part of union members’ “diversity of tactics.” She sees its impact as double-edged: it shows customers the importance of staff, but it also carries a symbolic message. “There are employees who say, ‘The employer wants to turn our lives upside down, so I am going to turn the bottles around,’ ” she explained. If customers have trouble finding their favourite wine, they need only ask. “It will be a pleasure to direct them to their bottle,” she said.
If the union is to believed, it has no shortage of ideas up its sleeve. In a video posted to YouTube, union vicepresident Simon Desjardins launched a summer series in which he pulls a ball from a bingo-calling cage and announces a new pressure tactic every weekend.
Last weekend the tactic was to direct customers toward the least expensive products, thus cutting into the SAQ’s bottom line. “Anything under $15, we empty the shelves,” he said on the video.
Lelièvre said the action did not mean customers were steered towards inferior products. “If you’re used to buying a $50 bottle, I don’t think we’ll succeed in selling you something for $15,” she said. “But there are a lot of good products for less than $15.”