32 staff given layoff notices

Head of local says 32 positions lost in part due to government cost cutting

The union representing almost 800 Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority employees across the province is not entirely sold on the Crown corporation’s justification for issuing pinks slips to 32 of its members this month.

While there’s “certainly an amount of truth” to SLGA’s explanation that the decision was the result of a policy change that led to dwindling business, that doesn’t tell the whole story, according to the head of the 800-member union local.

“What we’re seeing in every other ministry in the province is the government has gone to them and said, ‘We need cuts,’ ” said Bob Stadnichuk, chair of Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) Local 6080.

“There’s layoffs in health. There’s layoffs in education. There’s layoffs in public service. We’re no different. The layoffs are to get them ‘X’ amount of dollars in savings right now,” he added, referring to the province’s plan to halve a $1.2-billion deficit.

The latest round of layoffs at the Crown corporation comes almost exactly a year after 170 SLGA employees were told their jobs would disappear as the province phased in its plan to replace 39 publicly owned liquor stores with 50 private ones.

The layoffs announced earlier this month, which take effect on Sept. 23, are separate and involve a change enacted last year that allows off-sales to buy alcohol from SLGA’s distribution centre, SLGA spokesman David Morris said in an email.

Previously, those businesses could only buy booze from SLGA retail stores, like the five Saskatoon locations affected by the cuts: Second Avenue, Confederation Park, Lawson Heights, University Heights and Eighth Street.

“This has resulted in an expected shift in commercial sales from stores to the warehouse and has resulted in a reduction in the number of employees needed to staff some of SLGA’s liquor stores,” Morris said in the email.

The 170 layoffs announced last summer will be completed as the 39 stores are closed, he said. As of Wednesday, 23 of those operations have been shuttered, including the store at Market Mall in Saskatoon.

Stadnichuk, who was among the staff handed layoff notices earlier this month, said round after round of cuts has contributed to plummeting morale at SLGA’s retail stores. Employees have been left wondering, “Why am I here?” he said.

Despite concerns about privatization, Stadnichuk said he is convinced publicly owned liquor stores, which provide good jobs and revenue to the province, will always have a place in Saskatchewan. At the same time, he conceded, more cuts are likely.

“I definitely don’t believe this is the end.”