Striking Casino Worker Hit by Car Outside of Toronto

On July 31, a Unifor member of Local 1090 was struck deliberately by a car on a legal picket line at Casino Woodbine in Etobicoke, Ontario, about 31 kilometers outside of Toronto. 

Unifor Local 1090 has been on strike since July 23 at Great Canadian Gaming Corporation’s Pickering Casino Resort and Ajax Casino. They seek “wage increases and reduce the employer’s reliance on a precarious part-time workforce.”

While these workers are not allowed to strike directly at the site they’re protesting, they can protest at other sites owned by the employer in Canada. 

That other site, in this case, was the legal picket line at Casino Woodbine. 

The male Unifor member was brought to the hospital by ambulance, suffered a “contusion requiring stitches and a broken ankle,” and is currently at home recovering. 

Upon requesting video evidence of the vehicular assault, the employer’s contract security officials initially refused to turn it over. 

The casino was said to have “hosted the driver on the premises for hours following the incident.”
Per Unifor, picket lines “remain dangerous places for workers.” 

Over the years, “many” Unifor members have been hurt similarly, Unifor said. 

Unifor has also released this statement, “This must end — workers have a right to be safe at work and a right to free expression.” 

“Workers in Canada have the legal right to picket as a peaceful method of raising awareness of their workplace dispute. Courts have repeatedly upheld this right,” the company said in a statement. “Unifor calls on Great Canadian Casino Corporation to condemn the vehicular assault on its employee and encourage customers to be patient during the labor dispute.” 

On July 25, Great Blue Heron Casino, Casino Woodbine, Shorelines Casino Thousand Islands, Shorelines Casino Peterborough, and security workers at Elements Casino Mohawk and Brantford reached agreements with workers to end their strikes.