A number of Unifor Local 444 and Caesars Windsor members rallied outside the office of Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk's office on Thursday morning.
Some workers have been off the job for close to two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with more disruptions due to recent restrictions they wanted to have their voices heard.
Dawn Blanchette has been working at the casino for over 25 years, and says instead of being close to retirement and being able to enjoy her grand kids, it's been two years of difficulty.
"I was lucky to go back to work for five months, to be turned around because government's can't control and manage the hospital system properly. So guess what happens, we go into lockdown. So next variant, next time, this is going to continue," she stated
Blanchette says she wants the government to know, that after following the rules and doing everything asked of them, regular people are starting to get angry with the situation.
She says despite smooth talk from politicians, the rules don't make sense to the workers who've been impacted and the supports fall short.
"I can go get my hair done, my nails done, go to the mall. You can go to any of those places, but all of the hospitality industry gets shut down and you have to be vaccinated to get in. So which one is it, you can't have it both ways. We have members that are losing their homes, they're losing everything they've worked for."
Earlier this week, Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy told AM800 that there were still 1,000 members at the casino not back to work, who have no type of financial assistance available to help them.
Blanchette says conversations with her colleagues have been difficult for a while now due to that reality, and what workers say is a lack of support.
"They're in tears. Like I said, they're probably like me they go to bed at night crying wondering how they're going to pay their rent, how they're going to feed their children. We have a lot of single parents too, what do they want them to do?"
The casino is currently closed until at least January 26.