On Saturday, February 27, after days of negotiations, the Woodbine Entertainment Group decided to lock out 329 Food & Beverage workers
.
“We are very disappointed that after many days of talks, we were unable to reach an agreement,” WEG Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Jane Holmes, was quoted as saying in an article by The Toronto Star. “We believe the offer was reasonable and consistent with what we’ve reached with three different groups in the past few months.”
“They made an offer at about 1:30 a.m. and said it was the final offer,” Paul Clifford, president of Unite Here Local 75, which represents 329 food service and hospitality workers at the racetrack, was quoted as saying. “We were told if we don’t accept it right now, there’ll be a lockout at 6:00 a.m.”
According to the article, the union wanted to take the WEG offer to its members for a vote today, but Clifford said the company still went ahead with the lockout.
The report states that Holmes said the union negotiators did not endorse the final offer.
“The racetrack is entering a busy season and we want to have a continuity of service for customers. We are still hoping that they vote in favour and we’ll be happy to have them back,” said Holmes.
The locked out staff will vote on the final offer today.
(With files from The Toronto Star)