(Montreal) Bar owners could soon run out of beer due to the strike called at the end of March by workers at the Molson Coors facility in Longueuil, warns the president of the Corporation des Propriétaires de Bars, Brasseries et Tavernes du Quebec.
Posted at 4:31 p.m.
Updated at 6:02 p.m.
In a telephone interview, Renaud Poulin indicated on Friday that he received hundreds of calls this week from bar owners who fear they will run out of beer next week, particularly those in rural areas of the province who have an exclusive contract with Molson Coors.
” They think […] they’re going to have to close their business. That is the big worry,” he said.
Other Quebec beer producers will likely favor deliveries to Montreal and Quebec City, where bars are concentrated, rather than transporting cases to remote areas. “It’s a question of economy for the brewers,” continued Mr. Poulin.
In a letter dated Thursday to Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, the corporation calls on the provincial government to ease restrictions on beer sales and let its members buy bottles from other retail outlets. , to resell them in their establishments.
Under provincial regulations, bars and restaurants can only sell bottles marked specifically for “on-premises” consumption, unlike those for home consumption, which are sold in convenience stores and grocery stores.
Owners are now looking for out-of-province crates to fill the void left by Molson products, but a limited supply of beer in bottles marked for on-premises consumption means many bars are facing a shortage.
On March 25, 420 workers at Molson Coors’ new Longueuil brewing plant went on strike.
Molson Coors spokesman Frederic Bourgeois-LeBlanc said a contingency plan to deliver the products to customers was underway, and the company was in direct communication with the bar owners association.
“As always, our door is always open to negotiations with representatives of the Teamsters. It is important to mention that they decided to go on strike without even consulting our best offer, on March 25th. We remain very disappointed,” he said in an email.
Teamsters Canada spokesman Stephane Lacroix said the union has not heard from Molson and any movement toward a resolution has stalled.
“No negotiations, no contact. Nothing. Management got caught using scabs a few weeks ago, so I guess they’re not too happy with the way things are going,” he said in an email.
Mr. Poulin, owner of a sports bar in Châteauguay, pointed out that he personally experienced the problem, his clientele being less satisfied.
“Customers consume less. They stay shorter. They are not happy,” explained Mr. Poulin, who has run La Chope bar for 32 years.
“Molson’s customers have all gone to Labatt,” he adds, but the rival brewer’s stocks are also running out in Quebec, due to the Molson Coors strike.