Workers fear job losses
Some contract workers at Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs say they don’t have guaranteed jobs at planned new Shorelines Casino Peterborough
The new casino in Peterborough won’t really be taking all employees from the Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs, one employee says – she and 30 of her co-workers, all of them servers and security guards, stand to lose their jobs.
Kellie Warren, the union leader for the food, beverage and security workers at the slots in Fraserville, says she and her 30 co-workers aren’t getting job transfers to Peterborough.
Those who work the gaming room floor, such as slot attendants and cashiers – 130 employees in all – will have guaranteed jobs at the new Shorelines Casino Peterborough.
But not the 30 employees who work right alongside them serving drinks or providing security. They’ll have to apply to work at the new casino.
“It makes absolutely no sense,” said Warren, who works in the restaurant and the bar at the Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs.
“I’m going to wage a bit of a war: I’m going to call it Shame Shorelines.”
Warren, 53, has worked at her job for 18 years – since the day the facility opened. She helped set up the union for servers and security guards.
But she doesn’ t work for Shore lines, the subsidiary of Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (which will operate the Peterborough casino). She works for Kawartha Downs.
“We are, in effect, a subcontractor,” she said. “You’ve got two businesses under one roof.”
That’s why she and her co-workers are in a conundrum: When the slot machines are relocated to the new Shorelines Casino Peterborough, in 2018, the 130 employees of Shorelines are getting job transfers.
But not the servers and security guards who work for Kawartha Downs: they aren’t guaranteed a job.
Meanwhile, they can’t count on other work at the Kawartha Downs racetrack either.
The track only holds races 18 evenings out of 365; it’s certainly not enough to employ a full-time crew of food, beverage and security workers, said a national union rep.
“With the departure of the slots, there will only be a few part-time jobs – and not even real part-time. It would be a hobby,” said Tom Galivan, the secretary-treasurer at SEIU Local 2.
Galivan has been bargaining on behalf of all the workers at the slots. He asked Great Canadian Gaming Corp. to offer jobs to the 30 servers and security staff.
“They said it was a non-starter – that anyone is welcome to apply,” he said.
Warren said it doesn’t make sense: She and her co-workers are already licensed to work on a gaming room floor (an involved process that includes OPP interviews and background checks).
“We’re licensed. We’re experienced,” Warren said. “Yet they will not guarantee our jobs.”
Chuck Keeling, a spokesman for Great Canadian Gaming Corp., emphasized that Warren and her coworkers are employees of a separate company.
“We think it would be presumptuous, and even inappropriate, to make formal offers to employees who work for another employer,” he said.
They may serve alongside Shorelines staff, he said, but Shorelines has “zero insight” into these employees’ work histories.
“We are encouraging them to apply for the positions – and for positions that are opening up right now,” he said.
But why not guarantee their jobs, Warren asks, when they are licensed and experienced?
“We would argue they have an advantage – they’re licensed, and they know the business,” Keeling said.
Never mind, said Warren – she plans to stand up for her colleagues.
“I just want a job guarantee for my co-workers.”