Member Login
Toronto – Over 400 workers represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), and employed at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) corporation are set to be locked out as of July 14, 2017 at 12:01 am.
Last week, on July 5th, a new tentative agreement was reached. However, the workers rejected the offer in a vote conducted over the weekend (July 8 and 9). On July 10th, the OLG sent a letter to their workers, stating that they will be locking them out by the deadline. On July 12th, PSAC’s bargaining team sent a revised offer to the employer in an attempt to avoid a labour disruption, which the employer rejected and stated workers would be locked out on July 14.
“Workers are continuing to stand firm against an offer that would not improve their working conditions, especially for part-time workers,” states Sharon DeSousa, PSAC Ontario Regional Executive Vice-President. “We have part-time workers who have been working full-time hours for over 10 years now, yet the OLG will not allow them full-time status; how is this fair?”
The workforce consists of over 60 per cent part-time workers, although many of them work full-time hours but are refused full-time employment. This large part-time workforce has no guarantee of hours, yet must be available for shifts within a 48 hour timeframe, in a 24-hour, 7 day a week operation.
“The Liberal government has stated they want to address precarious work, yet their crown corporation, the OLG, is a principal example of an employer that is guilty of this,” says Ms. DeSousa. “The OLG should be increasing its full-time staff compliment and adequately compensating these workers for the turmoil brought on by this so-called modernization process.”
This will be the fifth labour disruption at the OLG during their modernization process in recent years. Premier Kathleen Wynne, Minister of Finance, Charles Sousa and Minister of Labour, Kevin Flynn, have been contacted by the PSAC over this difficult round of bargaining with the OLG, however the government has not responded to the situation.
The OLG continues to take a conflicting bargaining stance, even though the Liberal government’s mandate is to end precarious work, ensure workers have fair pensions and to raise the minimum wage to $15.
For more information or to book interviews, please contact:
Lino Vieira, Political Communications Officer, vieiral@psac-afpc.com or 416-577-0238