Contract talks resume today to try to end the 40-day-old strike at Caesars Windsor and as of 2pm Tuesday, both sides remain at the table.
Unifor Local 444 and the casino negotiating team sat down with a provincial conciliator at 10am.
Caesars indicated through the conciliator last Thursday it wanted to resume talks.
Unifor Local 444 represents the 2,100 striking workers.
The local's Secretary-Treasurer and in-coming President, Dave Cassidy says they haven't been in the same room since April 18th. "We met back some time ago, now it seems like eons. We're ready to get this deal done. I mean I'm very optimistic that we can hash it out and cooler heads probably will prevail," he says.
Workers hit the picket line after rejecting a tentative three-year agreement which Cassidy admits didn't satisfy the needs of the members. "The facts of the matter are that ultimately the membership has the final say and we're there supporting the membership and we missed the mark," says Cassidy. "So we're going to go back we know what the mark is now, and we're going to get the deal done based on the mark that's there.
Cassidy says the issue of respect is still on the minds of the membership, but achieving it will be a challenge.