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.
Share Tools
Latest Edmonton News Headlines
- Alberta bus crash survivor wants to thank rescuer
- A passenger in bus crash northeast of Edmonton Friday is looking for the man who dragged her from the wreckage. more »
- Leduc, Alta. train victim identified
- Police identified the teen killed by a train in Leduc on Monday as 19-year-old Daniel Michael McPherson. more »
- Alberta's proposed Education Act targets schoolyard bullies
- The Alberta government re-introduced its Education Act Tuesday, promising a systematic provincewide effort to go after and punish schoolyard bullies more »
- Enbridge offered First Nations cash to study pipeline
- An aboriginal organization leading the fight to prevent oil tankers on the British Columbia coast once took money from Enbridge Inc., the company hoping to build the pipeline from Alberta to a West Coast port. more »
Top News Headlines
- Legalize pot, say former B.C. attorneys general
- Four former B.C. attorneys general are joining a coalition of health and justice experts calling for the legalization of marijuana. more »
- Whitney Houston's funeral to be held Saturday
- Pop star Whitney Houston's funeral service will be held Saturday in the New Jersey church where she first showcased her singing talents as a child. more »
- Online surveillance bill targets child porn: Toews
- A bill that would give police and intelligence agencies new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications is needed to protect against child pornography, says Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. more »
- Air Canada confident it can reach deal with pilots
- Travellers flying Air Canada can keep booking their flights as negotiations continue with a new federally appointed mediator to help resolve an ongoing contract dispute between the airline and its pilots. more »
- Leduc, Alta. train victim identified
- Mother in court to see man charged in daughter's death
- Pedestrian struck and killed by train in Leduc
- Truck, rifle found in Killam RCMP shootings
- ETS introduces cash-counting fare boxes
- Museum founder Stan Reynolds dies at 88
- Alberta bus crash survivor wants to thank rescuer
- Alberta's proposed Education Act targets schoolyard bullies
- Enbridge offered First Nations cash to study pipeline
