Windsor Raceway layoff notice doesn't mention severance
CBC News
Posted: Jul 9, 2012 10:56 AM ET
Last Updated: Jul 10, 2012 11:35 AM ET
Windsor Raceway president Pat Soulliere said the track is still in conversations with OLG. (CBC)
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Indefinite layoff notices handed out to employees at Windsor Raceway make no mention of severance or the alleged ongoing negotiations with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
Tara Benson has been working at the Raceway for 42 years. She started in 1970. This is not the way she was hoping to leave her job.
"We've all been through the good times and the bad times there, through different managements and downsizing and we've seen too much of this, and we've been part of what they've downsized. It's been very, very difficult," Benson said. "I think we deserve something for that. I think we deserve our severances."
CBC News was first to report Monday that some remaining employees at Windsor Raceway were given layoff notices during the weekend.
The track’s president, Pat Soulliere, said management has “an obligation to let people know.”
He declined to say how many layoff notices were handed out. He also declined to talk about severance for the employees.
Windsor Raceway officials announced in May that the track will likely close entirely Aug. 31.
The Ontario Lottery and Game Corporation announced in March it would continue to provide the horse racing industry a share of slot revenue until March 31, 2013. Windsor Raceway officials, however, have not agreed to terms of that proposed transitional agreement.
Soulliere said that position “has not changed” since then.
Soulliere said the track is still in conversations with OLG.
"We continue to and are always willing to speak with any raceway or municipality," OLG spokesperson Roui Brum said.
Brum wouldn't saw when he last spoke with officials from Windsor.
He went on to say that OLG has "good relationships with our raceways."
OLG closed the slots at the Raceway April 30, 2012 and laid off 150 full-time employees as a result.
"It's very difficult to walk through the doors. It's like you're walking into a tomb where there are lots of ghosts," Benson said.
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