British Columbia’s legal cannabis industry is bracing for the potential impacts of a large-scale public sector strike.
The B.C. General Employees Union (BCGEU) began job action on Tuesday, picketing several government services offices in different parts of the province.
While job action hasn’t affected liquor and cannabis distribution so far, those who work in the industry are already concerned — with memories still fresh of a 2022 BCGEU strike that shut down distribution warehouses.
“It took so many businesses and retailers, producers, farmers, everything to recoup from that, and so this onset of the potential strike has brought on all of these feelings again” said Michelle Cozzuol, founder and CEO of Count Canna.
“Panic buying, we’re dealing with live product, it aging out, being paid, having only one single stream of distribution available — this whole thing has just set in utter panic.”
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Cozzuol said communication with the province has been poor and that retailers were scrambling Monday night, unsure if scheduled deliveries would even show up Tuesday morning.
The BCGEU says it has no plans to target liquor or cannabis distribution in the short term, but hasn’t ruled it out either if the strike drags on.
“The services primarily impacted are actually internal-facing to government; the average British Columbian is not at this point going to see a major disruption,” BCGEU president Paul Finch said.
“Obviously the strike will likely escalate if we don’t see the government come back to the table with an enhanced wage offer that meets the needs of our members.”
After the 2022 strike left legal cannabis retailers without access to stock from government warehouses, the province reworked legislation to allow limited direct business-to-business sales.
But Cozzuol said the program is cumbersome and decentralized, and forces retailers to pay up-front for product, making it hard for most to access.
She said her business still relies on government distribution for up to 80 per cent of product.
What’s more, she said, the province still takes a 15 per cent “handling fee” on all product sold directly from producers to retailers, even though it never passes through a government facility.
It’s a feature of the regime she said is particularly absurd in the face of potential strike action — where the province would continue to collect the fee, despite being functionally incapable of handling any product.
“This strike proves that they’re doing nothing for that money,” she said. “It’s literally a ghost service.”
The province was asked for information about the cannabis distribution system and the industry’s concerns, but did not respond by deadline.
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