Unionized workers at Caesars Windsor have given their union a strong strike mandate.
Unifor Local 444 Third Vice-President Doug Boughner says the workers voted 98.3% in favour of strike action if needed to back contract demands.
He says the union is extremely pleased with the turnout of the strike authorization meetings.
"We had probably about 75 percent of our members show up which was a very good turnout over 1300 members and that's a very good turnout," says Boughner. "It shows a very clear message what our members are looking for."
Photo courtesy of Unifor Local 444's Facebook page
He adds the membership did not ask a lot of question at the meetings.
"We've done a lot of pre-meetings so people understand where we're at," says Boughner. "The questions that were asked were extremely positive and they were very much behind us."
The union represents 2300 workers at the casino.
Boughner says talks started in mid-February and will resume Thursday morning.
He believes non-monetary issues will be dealt with by early next week and then talks will shift to monetary issues.
The two sides have already met with a conciliator.
The current collective agreement expires on April 4th at 12:01am.