It's 6 days away, but a date is set for bargaining to end the strike at Caesars Windsor.
Casino management has reached out to Unifor Local 444 and has indicated next Wednesday is the soonest they can return to the table.
Local 444 President James Stewart is both positive and frustrated by that response.
Newly elected Unifor Local 444 President, James Stewart, August 2017 (Photo by AM800's Peter Langille)
He says Caesars indicates it's the unavailability of the 3rd party at the table that's the holdup.
"The government conciliator isn't available immediately and the soonest they'd be available to bargain collectively is April 18th. So obviously I said yes, we're prepared now but if we have to wait to the 18th we have to wait to the 18th, but we're available anytime"
Stewart says the fact there is a date is the first step.
"The only way we're going to resolve it is by meeting so when you're not meeting you're not resolving anything so I don't expect we're going to get in the room and 5 minutes later we're going to have a deal. I just don't see that because we have things on the table that Caesars management will have to get their heads around"
Stewart says their bargaining committee has reformulated their proposal for Caesars and it includes both monetary and non-monetary issues.
The union reached out Tuesday to Caesars indicating they had a reworked proposal to present to the casino bargainers.
The 2300 Local 444 members who work at Caesars rejected a tentative agreement last Thursday (April 5) and have now been on the picket line 6 days.