Casino company’s injunction attempt deemed frivolous
A judge has swatted aside a “frivolous” attempt by Gateway Casinos and Entertainment to control the actions of striking workers at its Penticton location.
The company applied to the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction against members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, who it claimed were trespassing, blocking non-union staff and customers from entering the site, and harassing those same people on their way in.
Gateway was unsuccessful on all three counts, according to the decision of Justice Michael Tammen, which was issued Sept. 19, but only posted online last week.
In its application, the company relied primarily upon an affidavit from general manager Michael Magnusson, who also provided video and audio clips of events on Sept. 10 and 12.
Tammen found the company’s claims of picketers illegally entering the casino parking lot amounted to “petty trespass,” which is permitted by the B.C. Labour Relations Code.
“Picketers attempt to walk on the roadway adjacent to the casino property and generally stay on the roadway side of the large, white stop lines at the mouth of the driveway,” Tammen wrote.
“Occasionally, picketers step onto the casino property either inadvertently, presumably to avoid vehicle traffic on the road, or intentionally, but briefly, to engage with motorists who have just entered the parking lot.”
On the issue of picketers blocking people from accessing the parking lot, the judge again sided with the union.
“The maximum time by which vehicles are delayed from either entering or exiting the parking lot is less than 10 seconds,” concluded Tammen.
“Although this delay results from an organized picket line, it amounts to nothing more than the everyday inconvenience experienced by motorists being required to stop for random pedestrians walking across a driveway.”
Finally, while the judge agreed that some of what the striking workers said to non-union staff and customers was off side, it fell far short of being criminal.
“In short, there have clearly been instances of offensive language and gestures directed at casino patrons by picketers and some going the other way. However, I am satisfied that on the evidence presented at this hearing, such conduct, although impolite and in poor taste, is not unlawful. It is largely, although perhaps not entirely, the sort of exchange which one might expect on a picket line during a bitter labour dispute,” Tammen said.
The judge went on to note that “even a preliminary assessment of the merits” of Gateway’s application for an injunction “exposes the complaints of the plaintiff as being frivolous,” and also characterized some of the headings in Magnusson’s affidavit as “misleading and inaccurate.”
Approximately 700 BCGEU members have been on strike at four Gateway casinos in Penticton, Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops since June 29 in a bid to secure better wages.