Casino staff hope strike gives them winning hand
Workers picket casinos in Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and Kamloops in bid for better deal on wages
At exactly 3:01 Friday afternoon, it started.
Scores of picketers swarmed the sidewalk in front of Playtime Casino in Kelowna, and motorists honked their support as they passed by on Water Street.
The chant: What do we want? A living wage. When do we want it? Now. “There’s definitely a mood of excitement right now,” said Gayle Furgala, casino dealer and spokesperson for the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union Local 1707. “We’ll see how long it lasts because we can’t afford to be out here. But we have to fight to be respected as workers.”
On Monday, contract talks broke down between 702 unionized casino workers and Gateway Casinos, the operator of Playtime in Kelowna, Lake City in Vernon, and Cascades in Penticton and Kamloops.
At 3:01 p.m. Tuesday, the union gave 72-hour notice, so the strike started at the same time on Friday.
The timing is meant to put maximum pressure on Gateway to settle.
Not only is this the busy Canada Day long weekend, but it’s the start of summer, when locals and tourists alike pack the casino. The issue is wages. Casino workers start at the B.C. minimum wage of $12.65 an hour.
The union wants a boost to $18.63 an hour, which it considers a living wage.
Gateway has offered an 85-centan-hour boost over three years.
Furgala has worked at Playtime for 19 years as a dealer and makes $15.21 an hour.
“It’s not a living wage,” she said.
“I’m three years from retirement. But I’m doing this for the kids that work here, most of them for the provincial minimum wage of $12.65, but the servers that serve alcohol make even less at $11.63 an hour because they get tips. Some of them live six to a house to be able to afford rent and live in Kelowna.”
The strike means about 200 workers in Kelowna are on the picket line, 190 in Penticton, 110 in Vernon and about 200 in Kamloops.
The casinos will be open shortened hours, with managers covering work previously done by unionized employees.
Above the Playtime Casino sign in Kelowna, a white banner reads: “We are open. Come join us. Enter via P2.”
The P2 is in reference to the second-level causeway from the parkade into the casino.
That access has to be used because the front door, where the picketers are, is locked during the labour dispute.
A sign on the door gives the same instructions to enter through the parkade.
The hours listed on the door during the labour disruption are noon to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
That’s a cutback from the regular hours of 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
“Good luck to them trying to keep that up,” said Furgala in reference to the managers trying to keep the casino open.
“And to patrons, I say: Please don’t cross the picket line. Our livelihood is at stake here.”
Before negotiations derailed, three more days of bargaining were scheduled for July 4-6.
Furgala hopes that bargaining goes ahead, a settlement is reached and the strike is short-lived.
However, all she’s heard from Gateway is they’ve taken the upcoming negotiation dates under advisement.
Furgala said it’s a disgraceful position for a multimillion-dollar company to put employees in. The union might be willing to compromise on wages, but certainly not to go as low as the 85-cent raise offered by the company.