Burnaby Gateway casino workers vote to join BCGEU

Workers win out against powerful company, unbalanced labour laws

After a two year struggle, a key group of 70 employees at Burnaby's Gateway casino have overcome significant legal road blocks and finally succeeded in joining the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union.

The new union members are dealer supervisors and slot machine supervisors who joined the union to give them more clout to improve pay and working conditions.

"This is very much a David and Goliath story where against all odds workers have persevered against a powerful company and unbalanced labour laws, and won in the end," says BCGEU president Darryl Walker. "We are extremely proud to welcome this new group of union members to our ranks."

The casino supervisors were among a broad-based group of Gateway staff who first approached BCGEU in the summer of 2006 to help them win higher wages and greater respect from their employer. By October 2006, hundreds had signed union cards to show their support. That's when the employer-a multinational Australian corporation-began a long and costly legal effort to try and prevent the workers from being able to join a union.

Meanwhile, Walker says hundreds more dealers and slot machine attendants are also poised to join the union to make their workplace better. Walker says this employee group also signed union cards and first voted on joining BCGEU two years ago.

"However," says Walker, "this vote and a subsequent one conducted in October 2007 remain sealed because the employer is using every trick in Gordon Campbell's labour code to try and stymie workers' democratic right to join a union."

Walker is also critical of the B.C. Labour Relations Board for adding to the delays by failing to provide timely decisions.

B.C.'s casino industry generates more than $1.1 billion in annual revenue and produces huge profits that are carved up by casino owners, and provincial and local governments. While the stakes are lucrative for some, casino workers are poorly paid and work long hours under stressful conditions. Wages at Gateway start at $8.75 per hour and top out for the most experienced supervisor at $16 per hour.

About 400 casino workers at four Gateway-owned casinos in the Interior are already BCGEU members.

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