Nearly a month since workers at the Molson Coors plant in Toronto began striking, the brewing company says the labour stoppage remains unlikely to result in beer shortages due to its “full-blown contingency plan.”

Gavin Thompson, vice-president of corporate affairs of Molson Coors Canada, said customers should expect the shelves to remain stocked with his company’s products despite its workers off the job, due to extra supply they’ve stored.

“Typically, as most manufacturers do, when you’re heading into CBA, you do want to have obviously contingency plans in place should there be a labour disruption,” he said. “Our team did a fantastic job pulling that together as we were heading into the negotiations and during the negotiations as well.”

The union is encouraging a boycott of three American brands the company produces: Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and Coors Banquet.

Robert Folk, president of the Canadian Union of Brewery and General Workers Local 325, which represents the 320 striking workers at the Etobicoke brewing plant, said the union is looking for improvements to its graduated pay scale system.

He said the union has offered multiple concessions, including reduced overtime pay, straight time weekend pay and worker pension contributions.

“We were not looking for massive gains,” Folk said. “We were looking to maintain what we had and maybe move a few things around to benefit us.”

The union held a “solidarity barbecue” on the picket line Thursday to put pressure on the company.

Folk said talks broke off Dec. 15 after a month and a half. The collective agreement, which began in 2010, expired about two weeks later and the union began striking Jan. 12.

“The company never did put a formalized offer for us to present to our membership,” said Folk. “I have indicated, almost on a daily basis, that we are willing to come back to the table at any time. The company’s response is ‘give us a time, give us a place, but when you come back, be more creative in what you want to offer us.’ ”

Thompson declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiations for “confidentiality reasons.” But he said a formal offer was tabled before talks came to a standstill.

“The offer’s been open since the negotiations broke off,” Thompson said. “We’re still at an impasse and right now on our side, our priority is getting everybody back to the table so we can continue negotiating a deal and get everybody back to work to brewing great beer.”

Should the strike end up being a prolonged one, the company is “ready on all fronts,” said Thompson. He would not rule out replacement workers, but added “that’s not ideal.”

“The contingency plan is evolving as we speak,” Thompson said. “We had a short-term solution in place and now we continue to look at ‘what if.’ We’ve addressed pretty much every ‘what if’ scenario right now.”

Unlike the month-long lockout in 1985 of 3,500 workers at the three major breweries — Molson, Labatt’s and Carling O’Keefe — there won’t be a province-wide dry spell anytime soon even if Molson Coors’ distribution eventually takes a hit.

“Back then, they controlled so much of the volume and the distribution, but that’s just not the case today,” said analyst Robert Carter, executive director of food service at NPD Group.

“The portfolio of options is just so much more broader, the distribution channels so much bigger that we won’t experience something like what we did in the 1980s.”

He said he doubted the strike would have a major impact on the company’s sales.

“The challenge for someone like a Molson is they’re losing market share on a regular basis to these smaller craft breweries so any negative press is a concern for them overall,” Carter said.

Folk says he sees “no end in sight” to the strike.

“It’s been a great job, a proud job. I’ve always been proud to be an employee of Molson and it’s a very sad day,” said Folk, who’s worked as a brewery worker for nearly 35 years.

“If they bring in replacement workers, I might not ever drink a Molson product again.”

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