On July 29th, 2008, a preliminary agreement has been made to end the strike of more than eight hundred workers at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation casinos in Toronto, Brantford and Sudbury. The Ontario Lottery and the Canadian Auto Workers said that union members, who stopped working on June 1st, 2008 would decided during the day. If they approve the tentative agreement, the OLG is hopeful that the operations in both the Brantford and Sudbury casinos could resume this week. OLG did not say when the operations of the Woodbine Racetrack return to normal.
Details of the tentative agreement were not released as of the moment. Salary, Split Shift and the hiring of part-timers were the main issues of the dispute. Kelly McDougald, the chief executive of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation said that this agreement is fair to their employees working in Brantford, Sudbury and Woodbine and it will provide the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation the flexibility to manage their facilities and entertain their customers better.
The assistant to CAW national president Buzz Hargrove, Hemi Mitic said that the settlement will give them the opportunity to renew their relationship with the OLG and start anew. Talks between the two parties had resumed last week after stopping on July 18th, 2008. About 700 employees at the Brantford facility, together with one hundred security guards at Woodbine and eighty gambling floor employees at the Sudbury Downs joined the CAW last year, where they signed a fourteen month contract.
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