The head of the union representing workers at Caesars Windsor is planning a rally over the latest closure of Caesars Windsor.
As of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Caesars Windsor is shutting down operations until Jan. 26 due to provincial restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Dave Cassidy, President of Unifor Local 444, says he still has 1,000 members not back to work, who have no type of financial assistance available to help them.
"There's no CERB {Canada Emergency Response Benefit}, they can't reap the benefit off lock down benefit, it's very frustrating. Potentially, the people who were called back might not have enough hours of qualify for EI {Employment Insurance} as well," he says.
Cassidy wants to know what the provincial government is doing for the workers.
"You know our members, they're losing their homes, they're struggling to feed their families. This government is leaving families behind and this really needs to stop," he says.
Cassidy plans to organize a rally over this latest development.
"We need to make sure the people hear the real stories, this government hears the real stories from the workers. Not just from the union president screaming from the top of his lungs, letting people know that this is wrong. They need to hear the human stories and that's what we're going to plan, we're going to have something done by week's end," he adds.
Unifor Local 444 represents roughly 2,200 unionized workers at the casino, which has not operated at full capacity since mid-March 2020.
The casino reopened to the general public on July 23, operating at 50 per cent capacity. As restrictions were eased throughout the summer and into the fall, shows were scheduled for mid-December The Colosseum, but those were also called off due to an increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
Unifor Local 444 is set to begin contract negotiations with Caesars Windsor in April.
With files from Rob Hindi