The striking members of the B.C. Government Employees Union (BCGEU) last week ratified a new contract that ended their five month-long walkout in the four casinos operated by Gateway Casinos in Okanagan, including operations in Kelowna, Kamloops Vernon and Penticton.
The 700 workers won a 23.5 percent wage increase for the four-year life of the contract. BCGEU President Stephanie Smith declared, “I am so impressed by the solidarity and courage of our members,” Stephanie Smith, president of the BCGEU, said in a press release. “They should be proud of what they achieved by sticking together throughout the bargaining process, especially over the past 19 weeks on the picket line.”
Smith pointed out that the vote to ratify was close, “which means there is more work to be done in all four of these workplaces,” she said.
Gateway Casinos also hailed the new agreement that, it said, In an email to Global News, Gateway Casinos said the new collective agreement “includes immediate wage increases for every employee and a robust compensation package over the term of the agreement that is accompanied by a wide array of non-monetary benefits.”
