As he had mentioned recently, the union of 1000 employees of the Casino de Montreal launched Thursday the five-day strike mandate exercisable at the “opportune moment”, that is to say during the very busy weekend of the Grand Formula 1 prizes.
The strike mandate also affects the 700 unionized employees of the three other Loto-Québec casinos which are located in Gatineau, at the Manoir Richelieu in Charlevoix and at the Mont-Tremblant tourist resort.
The unionized employees affected by the strike mandate work in customer service, catering and security at the casinos operated by Loto-Québec. In all, 31 work departments are affected, from slot machine attendants to housekeeping employees.
In return, casino croupiers are not affected by this strike mandate, since they are represented by another union and they reached an agreement with Loto-Québec in August 2022, after having exercised various means of pressure.
Therefore, despite the extent of the strike mandate launched on Thursday, Loto-Québec says it can maintain operations at its casinos except the one in Mont-Tremblant, which had to “temporarily close” for a few hours Thursday afternoon to “to organize the resumption of operations”.
According to Loto-Québec, “staffing will be in place at all casinos to accommodate customers” for the weekend. She warns, however, that “some services may be offered on a limited basis.”
Meanwhile, on the picket line in front of the Casino de Montreal, which is located in the center of the Formula 1 racing circuit on Île Notre-Dame, the union leaders of the striking employees were emphasizing their wage demands.
“Loto-Québec and the Société des casinos are making extraordinary profits this year, but refuse to review their salary offers. It’s insulting to the workers who carry the casino on their backs! “, according to Riccardo Scopelleti, president of the security workers unit of the Casino de Montreal.
“What we’ve been asking for for a year are wage increases that would allow employees not to become poorer with the rising cost of living. Meanwhile, the casino boss offers himself a $130,000 pay raise. This is absolutely indecent! said Dominique Daigneault, President of the CSN’s Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal.
According to these union leaders, the wage increases demanded by casino workers represent “the equivalent of the rising cost of living plus a dollar an hour”. They also claim that this request is intended to “protect the purchasing power [of casino employees] as well as to improve the attraction and retention of staff”.
But on the side of Loto-Québec, it is retorted that “the value of the union demands corresponds to more than double what has been granted to all the other employees of the organization in the last year”.
Meanwhile, the management of the Crown corporation says it is “disappointed that the union has decided to go on strike instead of staying at the bargaining table, especially since two comprehensive and generous monetary offers have been tabled. over the last few months.”
“These offers make it possible to deal with the major issues of attraction, retention and the economic context,” according to Loto-Québec.
The state corporation considers that “the overall compensation of casino employees is very attractive, particularly on the issue of salaries, incentive compensation, numerous bonuses and the defined benefit pension plan”.