PSAC doubles down on organizing effort
In the face of possible privatization, nearly 400 employees at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) in Sault Ste. Marie took part in an Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) vote on Aug. 13 to determine whether they would organize under the the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union.
But the vote is now under review by the board after a number of ballots were segregated. Of 392 ballots, 61 remain in dispute. OLRB documents provided to Canadian Labour Reporter show 175 votes were cast in favour of the union while 129 ballots were cast against. A total of 29 ballots have been agreed upon and ruled out by the parties involved.
Presentations by both the employer and union will help determine whether each of the segregated ballots is valid and added to the official count.
With privatization a real possibility, PSAC doubled down on its previous efforts to organize the Sault Ste. Marie employees and the union is confident this most recent attempt will be successful, according to Sharon DeSousa, PSAC regional executive vice- president for Ontario.
"We feel very good about the vote," she said. "We’ll know in September. And having said that, we would be pushing to go into collective bargaining to ensure these workers’ rights are protected."
Employees had expressed concerns OLG’s privatization plans could lead to job losses or jeopardize revenue. Because the employer (a Crown corporation) has never been privatized, DeSousa said companies entering into the partnership will likely have little understanding of the ins and outs of running large lottery and gaming centres.
If these outside parties don’t like where the chips fall, she said, workers could be left short-changed. And a six-year wage freeze added to the workers’ frustration, she said.
"The privatization has caused severe anxiety regarding the insecurity of their jobs. They’re not sure what’s going to happen," she said. "They knew that if they joined a union and had a collective agreement in place prior to a privatization, that meant any new employer coming in must respect the terms and conditions of the collective agreement."
PSAC currently represents OLG workers at Woodbine and Rideau Carleton. OLG and its contract management companies employ more than 16,000 people throughout the province.
OLG said protections for workers have been written into the privatization plans.
"OLG is ensuring that employees have the support they need through the transition," said OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti.
The employer is providing transferring workers with a one- year employment guarantee in the same position and geographic location, at the same rate of pay and with the same status (full-time or part-time).
In an effort to ensure private sector service providers are compatible, a competitive procurement process was created.
"It is also important to note many of OLG’s employees are required to be registered through our regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario," Bitonti said. "It is a long process for an employee to be registered. OLG would expect that many of our current employees, who hold this registration, will be of great value to a service provider."
According to Bitonti, fears of lost revenue as a result of privatization are unfounded. OLG reports that Ontarians spend as much as $400 million per year on gambling websites that are unregulated in Ontario, resulting in a loss of revenue for the province.
Modernization — which OLG believes will be achieved in part through privatization — is actually necessary to prevent the lost revenue workers are worried about, he said.
"Modernization will help OLG provide more money to the province of Ontario for key government services, such as health care and education," he said.
"Through modernization, the private sector would pay for the costs of the expansion of lottery and gaming across Ontario. OLG will, in turn, pass along increased revenue to the province."
But for the union and its supporters, one year’s protection isn’t enough, said DeSousa. If the house always wins, that house needs to stay in Sault Ste. Marie permanently.
"We want to keep local jobs for these workers in Sault Ste. Marie. We want to make sure workers’ jobs are not displaced to another area," she said. "It’s going to be much more difficult for workers to negotiate on a singular basis, but collectively they can really ensure that their workplace is protected and that they have bargaining power. Our union will provide a strong voice for Sault Ste. Marie workers and fight to ensure that those great jobs remain in the Sault."
And while it’s true a collective agreement can prevent an employer from arbitrarily terminating positions without notice, process or compensation, unionizing will not protect employees from privatization, said Howard Levitt, senior partner at Levitt & Grosman in Toronto.
"Unionizing will provide absolutely no protection," he said.
"On the contrary, it could deprive employees of the right to obtain wrongful dismissal damages."
According to Levitt, employees covered by a collective agreement in this scenario could be limited to entitlement under the Employment Standards Act or whatever amount PSAC can negotiate, which he anticipated would be "much less."
Because the employer’s privatization plan was announced well before the union campaign, Levitt said, PSAC would be unable to argue the changes were made for anti-union reasons.
While he agreed successor rights would play an important part moving forward, should OLG employees choose to unionize, the act of organizing in and of itself will have little to no effect on the privatization plan.
"I do not see how the union could possibly contest the privatization unless OLG negotiated restrictions against this, which it won’t," he said.
