Raceway workers, OLG agree to arbitration to end slots lockout

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Workers at the Rideau Carleton Raceway Slots operation are expected to return to work next week after agreeing with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. to binding arbitration to end the almost six-month lockout.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada announced the deal late Friday.

Some 124 workers have been locked out since before Christmas after negotiations with the OLG broke down.

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The Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents the workers, said the arbitration agreement comes after the workers showed “tremendous solidarity” in the dispute.

The workers are expected to return to their jobs Thursday.

OLG confirmed the agreement and said the Slots facility was expected to return to 24-hour-a-day operation Monday, June 6.

Wages are expected to remain a central issue in the dispute.

The workers had turned down a contract offer in April that would have included a wage freeze for three of five contract years, along with two raises of 1.75 per cent.

The union stated in a news release at the time that “if OLG really wants to end this lockout, it needs to stop trying to freeze wages.”

Tensions frequently ran high at the picket line, and in April a picket suffered a serious head injury when he was struck by a car.

Zaher Salahi, 54, who worked as a valet at the raceway, was struck by a car that jumped a curb to avoid pickets. He was thrown from the impact and hit his head on the pavement, briefly losing consciousness.

After reviewing surveillance footage provided by OLG, police found the alleged driver, a kitchen employee, inside the building. Ransara Varushawithana, 26, was charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon (the car) and assault causing bodily harm. He was also charged with obstructing and resisting arrest.

And in January a worker was struck by a car driven by an elderly woman, who was not charged.

Also in January, Nepean-Carleton Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod organized a rally in Ottawa to address the “massive disparity” in salaries between raceway employees and those in other OLG facilities such as Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, where employees earn 4.5-per-cent more than workers at the Rideau Carleton Raceway.