Workers at Woodbine Racetrack and Sudbury Racetrack Slots have been locked out by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) since 12:01 a.m. on September 19th. The labour dispute is affecting more than 1,000 members of the Unifor union.

In an emailed statement, OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti stated “OLG has informed all unions during bargaining, including Unifor, that the future service providers of our gaming sites will be required to offer all transferring employees a registered pension plan,” Bitonti wrote. “OLG has been clear that current employees will remain in the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) until they transfer to a future service provider.”

Union representatives, however, are not satisfied with this answer and would like to know what pension plan the private sector will be required to offer.

Representatives from the OLG and Unifor met on September 17th and 18th, but were unable to reach an agreement, so the union initiated strike action by requesting a that a mediator from the Ontario Labour Relations Board join the negotiations.