Striking Shorelines Casino workers in Belleville, Ont., who stared down threats of court action from the multi-billion dollar Great Canadian Gaming Corporation with their own threats of secondary picketing, have secured pay hikes of up to 24 per cent.
On Oct. 22, the 93 casino workers, from liquor servers to slot technicians, went on strike after years of low pay. Eighty-four per cent rejected an offer which would have left their hourly wages, in some cases, trailing the industry average by nearly $4 and within 65 cents of minimum wage.
The employer, the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, reported hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue last year. But, even as it re-opened, management refused demands to address the pay gap.
“It was a ‘take it or leave it’ proposition for the union,” Unifor Local 1090 president Corey Dalton told QuinteNews.
And when the workers went on strike, the corporation refused to shutter operations. Instead, it invited the public to cross their picket line. Soon after, management applied for an injunction—violating workers’ right to assembly for the crime of unduly delaying casino patrons.
“At this point in time, the employers are adamant that they would rather deal with legal injunctive applications,” Dalton told InQuinte on October 26. “That’s a distraction from what the real issue is here is the fact that we got workers that are just trying to bargain a living wage.”
The workers didn’t cower. On Oct. 22, the union local issued a statement warning the company: “As a result of major safety concerns on the Picket Line today, including aggressive drivers making contact with members, we had no choice but to place a total blockade at the entrance of Shorelines Casino Belleville.”
The union local further warned the company that if it went ahead with its threats, workers would launch secondary pickets at Great Canadian Gaming Corporation sites in Port Perry, Ajax, Pickering, Rexdale, Hamilton, and Brantford.
Nothing is done and no service is rendered without the working class. Organized, determined and united, workers can bring management to heel.
