Union Leader: State Has ‘Best of Both Worlds’ When It Comes to Liquor

While some see hypocrisy in the state’s model of liquor control, the leader of the union representing the state liquor store employees says Pennsylvania is acting appropriately. 

Speaking at the Pennsylvania Press Club’s monthly luncheon March 28, Wendell Young IV, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, said the state was in the ideal position to both advertise liquor while also monitoring its use and enforcing violations against underage drinking and over-consumption. 

“I think the state is in the perfect position. I think it is a function of government to protect people both from a fiscal point of view and a public health point of view,” said Young. “We have the best of both worlds.” 

UFCW Local 1776 represents about 24,000 workers in Pennsylvania, including 2,500 state liquor store employees. 

Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, the leader of the renewed privatization effort within the General Assembly, said the state had no role to play in marketing alcohol. 

“Under no circumstances should the commonwealth of Pennsylvania suggest that people buy booze for Mother’s Day,” said Miskin, referencing the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s controversial radio and print ads from last spring telling potential customers to buy a bottle of vodka for Mother’s Day. The ad campaign cost $140,000. 

The PLCA is in the second and final year of a $4.3 million advertising contract while also transferring $20 million annually to the state police for alcohol enforcement activities. Another $1 million is earmarked annually for education about the negative impacts of drinking. 

Pennsylvania is one of only two states to have complete control of liquor sales, with Utah being the other. Nineteen states have some form of control over liquor sales. 

Young said his union would support proposed changes in the PLCB’s operations to allow state stores more flexibility in pricing, longer hours and direct mailing of wine. 

Joe Conti, chief executive officer of the PLCB, told a state House budget committee in February the changes would allow them to better serve customers and generate an estimated $50 million in additional revenues. 

However, Young said his union would not support a partial privatization to allow state stores to compete against private stores. 

“I would oppose any opportunity to get the door open a little bit and introducing a little bit of privatization,” said Young. “I don’t see why we would bother unless someone could prove the results ahead of time.” 

Proponents of the privatization effort say the PLCB’s proposed changes are an attempt to keep their monopoly intact by becoming more like the very thing they oppose becoming--private sector businesses. 

However, Young made it clear the union is dead-set against privatization, even if all employees were to keep their jobs or be given preference in other parts of state government. 

Beginning last year, state Rep. Mike Turzai began pushing for the elimination of the state liquor stores. He argued the state had no business selling liquor and promised the auctioning of the state licenses could provide an estimated $2 billion for the state budget at a time when the state faces a $5 billion deficit. 

Since then, the message has shifted toward the philosophical, and opponents have challenged the amount the state could get from selling the store licenses. 

During his March 8 budget address, Gov. Tom Corbett painted the privatization question as an issue of philosophy, rather than one of cost. He reiterated the message March 27 during an appearance on Inside Story, a Philadelphia-area political talk show. 

No bill to privatize the state stores has been introduced, but Corbett has formed an executive commission to study privatization, and the state Senate has commissioned a study to determine how much revenue could be generated. A bill is expected within six to eight weeks, said Miskin. 

On March 28, Young said there was little support for a philosophical push for privatization and predicted the effort would be defeated, as it was in the 1990s when then-governor Tom Ridge, a Republican, tried to privatize the state liquor stores. 

“Every time this comes up, those who want to privatize have bad math. Their metrics just don’t add up,” said Young. “Everyone is looking for a quick fix.” 

Miskin said philosophy has always been a part of the message. 

“For Representative Turzai and the members of our caucus, it was always a question of whether selling booze was a core government function. And the answer is no,” said Miskin. 

Speaking at the Pennsylvania Press Club in January, Turzai said the $2 billion in revenue from selling the state store licenses would be “gravy” and the central issue was getting government out of the alcohol market.