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Workers at two Great Canadian properties intending to strike on 31 July

Unifor Local 1090 members at both Casino Ajax and Pickering Casino Resort intend to go on strike if a new collective agreement is not reached with Great Canadian prior to the deadline.

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Pickering Strike
Key Points
A new agreement would most likely address wages and working conditions for more than 900 gaming workers
Unifor members include coin workers, cashiers, slot technicians and attendants, table games technicians and dealers

Members of Unifor Local 1090 at Casino Ajax and Pickering Casino Resort, including coin workers, cashiers and dealers, intend to go on strike on 31 July if employees are unable to reach a new collective agreement with Great Canadian Gaming Corporation.

While the Union’s bargaining committee “remains at the table this week,” the potential strike action would also include hospitality and food service staff, as well as gaming hosts and player service representatives.

Unifor Local 1090 members at both Great Canadian properties are seeking to address wages and working conditions for more than 900 gaming workers as part of the new collective agreement. 

Members of the Union who currently work at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto were locked out on 23 July, with the additional labor dispute remaining unresolved at the time of writing. 

On 7 July, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) ordered $170,000 in monetary penalties against Great Canadian Entertainment for failing to identify suspicious activity, including potential money laundering indicators at Pickering Casino Resort.

An AGCO compliance audit identified multiple failures to assess and track high-risk patrons which were not subject to required enhanced scrutiny, as well as found that Suspicious Transaction Reports were not filed when patrons showed money laundering indicators.

According to the monetary penalties, Great Canadian failed to have mechanisms in place to reasonably identify and prevent unlawful activities at Pickering Casino Resort, including adequate risk-based assessments and procedures.

Great Canadian was also fined $120,000 by the AGCO for using unauthorised gaming system software at four separate casino properties in Ontario, found to be installed between 20 February and 15 March 2025.

Good to know

Great Canadian finalised the sale of Elements Casino Chilliwack to certain communities from the Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribe on 28 July, representing a “transformational milestone” for the reservation

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