Workers at Caesars Windsor will head on strike after shooting down a tentative agreement that had been reached by their union earlier this week.
The union representing around 2,300 workers, Unifor Local 444, announced late Thursday evening that only 41% of its members had voted in favour of the new contract. The tentative agreement was reached Tuesday night just ahead of a 12:01am Wednesday strike deadline.
Local 444 President James Stewart says operations at Caesars Windsor will begin to shut down at 12:01am on Friday and all staff will be leaving their jobs for the picket line by 6am. After 6am, it will be up to management to look after hotel guests until their checkout time, and guests will be notified by phone or email if their reservations will be impacted by the temporary closure.
Caesars Windsor says it will be closed to the public until a tentative agreement has been reached and ratified. The Johnny Reid concert scheduled for Friday has also been postponed.
The union president says the main sticking point for employees has been their wages, but the workers have a number of other issues that are specific to each position.
Stewart adds that "there's a lot of frustration with Caesars... a lot of mistrust with their employer."
"I'm not disappointed in our members making an ultimate decision against the vote. I think that's their democratic right. [Unifor] did endorse it, we thought it was a good agreement, but it's frustrating when it's not recognized as enough," he says. "We have a democratic process, [our members] have the ultimate say, that's the way it should be, and when that's all said and done, we support our members."
Kevin Laforet, regional president for Caesars Entertainment, says Caesars is very disappointed in the outcome of the vote.
"We felt the agreement was fair and sustainable. We will be meeting with Unifor to discuss next steps. I personally want to apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers," Lafoet says in a statement.
Stewart says as of Thursday night, there has been no discussion with management about returning to the bargaining table.
"Our first goal immediately is to go through the process with our members at the casino, getting the pickets set up, making sure it's a smooth process," he says. "From there, the casino will contact us [or] we'll contact them and see if there's an interest to get back to the table."
Unifor Local 444 represents cooks, dealers, housekeepers, and janitors at Caesars Windsor.