BC Restaurants and Food Services Association President and CEO Ian Tostenson says a lengthy strike by BCGEU members could have unintended consequences for the industry.
Over 2,000 union members hit the picket lines yesterday (Tuesday) including over 260 in Prince George demanding a new contract requesting wage increases of about four percent.
Tostenson told Vista Radio while the food industry can likely dip into the local beer and wine market with little trouble, other aspects of the business could feel the pinch.
“It’s all about the shift and having to change administration, your purchasing and restaurants simply don’t have the time to be going through this. It’s not great news for this industry that has been struggling and has faced tough times in the last year.”
He added the last strike that occurred lasted ten days, leading to a months long recovery for restaurants across the province.
“If a restaurant doesn’t have products to serve you could see closures. It didn’t come to that last time when this happened to us about three years ago. It was really messy and the other issue here is that we had ten days of a strike and it took months to restore balance back into the industry.”
“I think the biggest impact is the uncertainty. When you are a business owner that works so hard and has a great staff wondering if you are going to get shut down or what will happen makes it very difficult to forward plan and is the tragedy of this whole circumstance. I mean, the BCGEU has every right to bargain in good faith and hopefully, they can resolve this sooner than later.”
He added one positive is restaurants will be able to access wine, beer and spirit products with little to no issue during this time.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
