Legislation to cancel Master Framework Agreement contract will cost 7,000 jobs and billions of taxpayers’ dollars to put beer in corner store
Campbellville, Ont. – May 30, 2019 – The Doug Ford Ontario PC government’s move to cancel the Master Framework Agreement governing beer retailing “is an assault on good-paying jobs and agreements negotiated in good faith,” says John Nock, the president of UFCW Canada Local 12R24, which represents Beer Store employees.
The bill introduced in the Ontario Legislature this week to cancel the contract would cost 7,000 jobs and billions in taxpayer dollars just so corner stores can sell beer.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career as a union representative,” said President John Nock. “We have a government that is now introducing legislation for the sole purpose of destroying the livelihood of over 7,000 Beer Store employees in communities large and small across Ontario and wasting taxpayers’ money.”
The Master Framework Agreement signed in 2015 modernized the beer retail model to expand sales to 450 grocery stores along with The Beer Store, in order to maintain Ontario’s pre-tax beer prices as among the lowest in Canada and protect good-paying jobs. It was intended to provide a stable business environment for brewers, retailers and workers for 10 years.
“Doug Ford promised no one would lose their jobs as a result of his policies,” says President Nock. “And now he’s cancelling contracts, creating chaos and kicking good jobs to the curb. We will fight this government and this Premier to keep our jobs and to save the taxpayers the billions Ford is willing to pay to put beer in corner stores.”