Showing posts with label Press Release. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Press Release. Show all posts

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Woodbine Entertainment Group Cuts Customer Service

Racetrack teletheatres (off-track betting facilities) across the GTA are going tellerless.

Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) is pushing ahead with plans to automate all GTA teletheatres, threatening jobs at a time when attendance is booming and teletheatres are raking in huge profits. They are cutting off the important human element in Ontario’s gaming industry.

Ontario’s lottery and gaming sector was built to diversify the provincial economy with promises of corporate responsibility and the creation of good jobs in our communities.

Each year, millions of our public dollars help boost revenues for WEG and now they’re needlessly cutting out customer service employees. This doesn’t add up.

Real-life mutuel tellers currently play a vital role in the racing business. We provide quality service directly to customers. We understand and teach customers the rules of the game. We lend support when it’s most needed as customers place hundreds of thousands of bets each year.

WEG plans to automate teletheatres in the GTA will put 384 mutuel tellers’ jobs at risk. This makes no sense – especially since WEG raked in over $11.5 million in profits last year.

We’re calling on the company as well as teletheatre operators to stop this aggressive and poorly thought-out plan for more automation, at the expense of customer service. Instead, we’re advocating a common ground approach to technological improvements (as is done in other industries) – one that protects jobs and maintains a high level of customer service for you, the public.

Other service locations in our communities that have instituted automated machines (including banks, supermarkets, airports and transit stations) still employ live staff to ensure quality customer service is delivered. Woodbine is forcing automation on its customers. No compromises.

Shouldn’t it be the customer’s choice?

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You can help!    Contact your Member of Provincial Parliament

Don't know who your MPP is?     Click here: Current MPPs

Ask them: Why is the Ontario government allowing the horse racing industry to eliminate good paying jobs with benefits all while they are receiving millions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money each year through the Ontario Lottery Corporation slot profits?

Ask them: Why are long term employees who have contributed to the success of the race track operations now being replaced by automation?

Ask them: Why contracting out to private owners helps the Ontario economy when these contracts are replacing good paying jobs?

Ask them: Who contributes more to the Ontario economy, a long-term employee living and working in Ontario or rich foreign owner?

Thursday, June 19, 2008

MEDIA ADVISORY

June 18, 2008

CAW to Host Barbeque at Queen’s Plate –Woodbine Racetrack Sunday

(Toronto) - The CAW will be hosting a picket line barbeque at the Woodbine Racetrack on Sunday in honour of the Queen’s Plate race and the three-week long strike against concessions and the erosion of full time jobs at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming facility. Click here to read more


OLG Security at Woodbine Bargaining Update


Please read the following Bargaining Report #4 on the state of Negotiations between CAW and the OLG.

Check back here or www.cawlocal.ca/gaming/news.asp for ongoing updates.

Friday, January 04, 2008

CAW Local 2007 Issues Media Release

Media Advisory - Racetrack workers fight unfair practices

TORONTO, Jan. 2 /CNW/ - The Canadian Auto Workers Local 2007 has launched a campaign to stop what the union calls "unreasonable rules and practices" for racetrack workers held responsible for the payment of incorrect betting tickets.

The most recent example of this occurred on December 1, when a betting clerk at the Greenwood Teletheatre in Toronto mistakenly issued an incorrect ticket to a patron. The patron had asked to place a $500 bet on a number 5 horse to win, but the final ticket read number 6.

The race started before the betting clerk was able to cancel the ticket and correct the error. The patron refused to accept the incorrect ticket and refused to pay the $500 that was owed. As is common practice with Woodbine Entertainment Group it then becomes the betting clerk's responsibility to pay the outstanding $500 fee.

As it turned out, the incorrect ticket became a winning ticket paying out $7,825. Rather than allow the betting clerk to collect the winnings an employer representative confiscated the winning ticket and subsequently reimbursed the $500 fee. Woodbine refuses to turn over the full proceeds of the ticket, which was in the teller's possession.

Based on past practice at the racetrack, the union believes that had the ticket lost, the betting clerk would not have been reimbursed the $500.

Hemi Mitic, Assistant to the CAW National President, considers this a blatantly unfair practice for betting clerks.

"Our members are being told to foot the bill for incorrect tickets, regardless if they are responsible for the error or not, and then told that they can't share in the rewards," Mitic said. "This is a double-standard that our union simply won't stand for."

CAW Local 2007 represents over 500 workers at Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks, as well as more than two dozen off-track Teletheatre operations in the GTA.

For further information: Brian Henderson, CAW Local 2007 President, (519) 856-0295

In Further Developments
Read this article published in Friday's Toronto Star Race clerks can't win for losing

and from Standardbred Canada:
Ticket Issue Leads To Comments From CAW, WEG

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

CAW National Office Issues Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: CANADIAN AUTO WORKERS

Attention News/Labour Editors:

CAW Locals Pledge Support for Striking Woodbine Workers

TORONTO, Dec. 18 /CNW/ - In a show of solidarity CAW local union leaders have pledged their full support for the 180 bartenders and servers on strike at three Woodbine Entertainment Group locations in Southern Ontario.

On December 17, over 50 union representatives gathered in Toronto to strategize ways to intensify efforts on the picket lines as the strike continues into its third week.

Local union leaders will be encouraging members in the Toronto and surrounding areas to join with striking workers on the picket lines over the next number of weeks at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto and the Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville.

The union has targeted Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to increase picketing efforts, considered peak times for business at the racetracks.

Plans are also currently underway to hold a major public rally in support of the striking workers on Boxing Day, the details of which will be made available over the coming days.

For further information: Brian Stevens, CAW National Representative, (cell) (416) 567-8281 or Angelo DiCaro, CAW Communications, (cell) (416) 606-6311


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WE MUST DO OUR PART

All members of Local 2007 are encouraged to support our Brothers and Sisters in their struggle with WEG.
You are reminded that picketing begins at 4:00 pm weekdays and at 12:00 noon on weekends.

Picketing is escalating and further support from area CAW locals will increase.

We all know how difficult it can be to effectively picket at Woodbine and Mohawk.

The battle that our fellow workers face here is ours to share.

For more picketing information call Brian Henderson at 647-504-8499

PLEASE NOTE :

We are pleased to announce a new feature on our website.
Check out > CONNECTIONS - for complete contact info & LINKS

CLICK the link in the upper right corner (under CAW Local 2007 logo).

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

CAW News Release

Media advisory for immediate release – CAW Ontario Pack distribution
December 4, 2007

Possible Strike at Three Woodbine Entertainment Group Locations

(Toronto) - One hundred & eighty bartenders and servers represented by the CAW at three Woodbine Entertainment Group locations will be on strike as of 4:00 p.m. today if an agreement with the employer cannot be reached. Negotiations have been ongoing since mid-September.

“The company has tabled a list of concessions and seems to be provoking a dispute," said Hemi Mitic, Assistant to CAW National President Buzz Hargrove.

The strike would take effect at both Woodbine and Mohawk Racetracks and at Greenwood Teletheatre located at Kingston & Queen Street, Toronto and will also affect beverage services at OLG Mohawk and Woodbine Slots operations.

"In an environment where the employer is reaping greater profits, it's time to share that with the workers who make it all happen," Mitic added.

Picket lines will be set up at all locations in the event of a strike.

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For further information contact: Hemi Mitic (cell) 416-565-3677 or CAW National Representative Brian Stevens (cell) 416-567-8281