Security, stop idling your car!

Dear Editor:

As we pass the one-month strike marker for Gateway Casino employees, I can’t help but be troubled.

Of course, Gateway’s wage proposals to its employees has been downright embarrassing for a company that boasts of being the largest and most-profitable in Canada. It is the employees’ right to strike in protest of unfair conditions and lack of respect. This is not the first labour action, nor will it be the last in our time.

There will be many strikes, but we only have one earth. If Gateway wants to sling mud at its employees (after all, it is the employees who make up the union Gateway has called “out-of-touch”), so be it. But, why drag the environment into this fight? Confused? Allow me to explain. Stop by the Kelowna picket line anytime during their reduced hours of operation and you will likely find a private security guard .... with his camera rolling on the picketers and his car idling while he sits inside. So far, he’s captured shocking video such as picketers walking back and forth and engaging with the public. Good thing he has it on tape.

From the time they open, until the time they close, this car idles, despite repeated pleas from the picketers. A call to bylaw uncovered a disappointing hole in our city bylaws. Believe it or not, our beloved lakeside city has no idling bylaws. This allows the private security to keep his vehicle idling for hours and hours at a time (for reasons unknown), on someone else’s dime and at the cost of our air quality.

The blatant disregard for the environment is appalling and unreasonable. Is all this necessary? Idling for seemingly endless hours and hours is causing permanent damage because of a temporary problem.

Eventually, Gateway will have to catch up with the times. The community has spoken through their support of the picket lines. Living wage is called just that because it’s the minimum amount required in the specific community to live. There are so many smaller businesses that pay their employees’ wages they can live on. I can bet you they aren’t making the millions in profits Gateway is. It’s time to step up.

In the meantime, keep mother nature out of it.

Kamila Vejvoda Kelowna