A strike continues at two Ontario casinos owned and operated by Great Canadian Gaming Corp. They are the Ajax and Pickering casinos, where unionized workers seek compensation equal to that at other properties owned by the corporation.
About 800 workers hit the picket lines after midnight on July 22. The casinos continue to operate 24/7 with only one type of game unavailable: live tables.
On July 27, Unifor Local 1090 President Corey Dalton told reporters, “We’re trying to close the wage disparity, the gap, between the Pickering casino, Casino Ajax, and the workers at Casino Woodbine.”
Woodbine is also owned by Great Canadian, although represented by a different union. Nevertheless, the workers at Woodbine erected a secondary picket line at their casino to show sympathy and solidarity for the striking workers. The picket line was erected at all six entrances.
Dalton added, “The reality is the same company owns a property one hour down the road that are compensating their employees significantly better than they are here.” He added, “We want to resolve this, we want to get these workers back to doing what they do best, which is serving our guests. We want to resolve this agreement.”
Unifor claims its workers earn about 15 percent less than Woodbine employees. Unifor posted this statement on its Facebook page: “Workers at Pickering Casino Resort and Casino Ajax are not being unreasonable. We aren’t asking for more, but apparently asking to be treated as equals is just way too much.”
When workers at the two casinos voted on whether or not to go on strike, 99 percent said yes.
Great Canadian issued the following statement: “We have been in negotiations with Unifor in recent weeks in an effort to reach an agreement that provides our team members at (the Ajax and Pickering casinos) with fair and attractive wages, benefits and careers. Regrettably, Unifor has rejected our offer and has chosen to strike.”
