Casino workers on strike at West Edmonton Mall
Last Updated: Monday, September 11, 2006 | 12:15 PM MT
CBC News
Three hundred casino workers at West Edmonton Mall are on the picket lines, arguing they aren't paid enough at a time when Alberta is prospering.
Staff who operate the tables, bars and restaurants at Palace Casino went on strike Saturday morning.
Brian Hetherington, spokesman for the company, said the Edmonton mall casino is still open and is being run by managers.
Most Palace Casino employees are making less than $9 an hour and that isn't enough to live on in Alberta during the province's economic boom, said Christine McMeckan, a spokeswoman for Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
"This is an industry that generates more revenue for the Alberta government than oil and gas," she said.
However, the company argues that Palace Casino staff are better paid than any other casino workers in northern Alberta. The company offered the workers a 15 per cent increase over the next three years, Hetherington said.
Workers aren't the best paid in the region and weren't offered a raise that high, said McMeckan.
Negotiations for a new contract between staff and the company had been ongoing for the last year.
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