For over 10 months they endured bitter weather, hostile management and an unhelpful, uncaring government. Generally, when a strike drags on for this length of time in Alberta, the consequences are either the loss of union representation or members having to live with an inferior settlement agreed to in desperation.
Not so at the Palace Casino. When the strikers returned to work in July 2007, they walked in as winners. As United Food and Commercial Workers 401 Representative and strike coordinator Christine McMeckan says, "We achieved many things that the employer said we never would get. Things like part-time benefits, sick pay for our full-time employees, maintain our union office on site and full retro pay. As well, bonuses were paid to each and every employee regardless of length of service ($3,000 for full time and $1,200 for anyone averaging less than 35 hours per week)."
What makes the victory in the Palace strike even more remarkable is the fact that it was, in essence, a first collective agreement. Yes, there had been an employees' association in place - but this was to be the workers' first real union contract.
First contracts are notoriously hard to win in Alberta - especially if the new local finds itself pitted against a determinedly anti-union employer (see sidebar).
| Why Are First Contracts So Hard in Alberta?
Unlike other jurisdictions, Alberta does not have any effective mechanisms to promote first contract resolution. First contracts are particularly difficult for new union locals because there is no previous relationship between the two parties and it is easy under Alberta law for employers to simply go through the motions of bargaining "in good faith." Through bad faith bargaining, for example by deliberately placing items on the table that it knows workers will not accept and then refusing to amend them, employers can completely sidetrack the negotiations. Similarly, an employer can engage in "surface bargaining" where it appears that bargaining is taking place through properly scheduled meetings and ongoing discussions of proposals, but where there is never an intention by the employer to reach a collective agreement. Recognizing how management can deliberately flout employees' democratic right to have a union, some provinces have a mechanism where either side can apply for compulsory arbitration of a first contract. In this first contract arbitration, the arbitrator will impose a reasonable settlement on the two parties if they refuse to do so themselves. In other provinces, there are significant financial penalties for refusing to bargain in good faith. Although this isn't ideal because it can be very difficult to prove that a party is not bargaining in good faith - it is still better than the situation in Alberta where the financial penalties are so insignificant that employers can easily write them off as a small cost for remaining ‘union free.' |
Unfortunately for the Palace Casino workers, that is exactly the kind of employer with which they had to deal. According to McMeckan, the atmosphere right from the beginning of bargaining in 2005 was ominous. She said the union "found the employer to be confrontational and provocative from the moment we sat down to exchange proposals."
The employer originally tabled demands for an open shop agreement, for closing the union office that had been originally granted to the old employees' association, adding constraints to the grievance procedure, eliminating language requiring the employer to meet with a joint Health and Safety Committee and other concession demands guaranteed to stick in the union's throat.
Later in the process when it seemed the union might actually be making progress at the bargaining table, talks to monetary items and the whole process came to a halt. The employer - despite the booming Alberta economy, high labour demand and rising prices - took a hard line. They offered the biggest group of workers only pennies-per-year increases in each year of the proposed collective agreement. Some were offered as little as 22 cents per year in each of the three years the agreement as to cover. When it became clear that the employer was not prepared to negotiate on its harsh monetary position, the union was left with no options except job action. Dealers making an averageof just $8.88 per hour and food service workers barely above Alberta's minimum wage could not and would not accept the employer's offer. The 250 workers began their legal strike on September 9, 2006.
The Three Pillars of a Successful Strike
There were three vital elements involved in the successful pursuit of the Palace Casino strike: the courage and stamina of the strikers on the picket line, the unswerving support of their union over the long haul, and the integration of the rest of the labour movement into the struggle. First and foremost, there were the workers themselves. "We beat the odds by hitting the employer hard and being unrelenting in our efforts to impact their earning ability," says McMeckan. "No matter how cold or hot it was, the picketers worked diligently to keep people out."
Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) staff member Tom Fuller was a regular supporter of the picket line throughout the strike. "I knew the Palace strikers were in it for the long haul when I saw them picketing outdoors every day in the bitter cold. Whenever things got harder - when the Labour Board took away their only source of heat, when the wind chill dropped to forty below, when customers and scabs mouthed off at them - they just dug in harder. You just knew they were going to win eventually," says Fuller.
The solidarity and strength of the picketers appeared to grow as the strike dragged on. The union had decided early on that only 100 of the 250 workers should be picketing - the others were encouraged to find other work for the duration of the strike - not difficult in the current Alberta economy. This was particularly true because two new casinos opened in the region during the strike. Yet close to 200 were still committed to the union and the cause at the end. According to McMeckan, that solidarity is still a dominant feature of the workplace. "We now have an amazingly tight group of people who have confidence that many lacked prior to the strike on asserting their rights in the workplace," she says.
The Union Knew What to Expect
UFCW Local 401 was well-prepared for the strike and conducted an exemplary strike. "Local 401 took great pains to ensure each and every striking workers was taken care of both emotionally and financially," says McMeckan. "We pay higher than most unions in strike pay and also pay a sum of money each week to anyone who has dependents as well as covering benefit premiums so strikers retain their coverage."
The Local also ensured that there were no less than two full-time union representatives on the picket line at all times to ensure the physical and emotional safety of the picketers. "If trouble erupted on the picket line," notes McMeckan, "the union was there to deal with it."
UFCW also ran a free shuttle bus to take gambling patrons who did not want to cross the picket line to another casino. It ran constantly day and night.
Most importantly, UFCW 401 never stinted on the mounting expense of maintaining the picket line. The employer may have harboured hopes the union could be starved out - but it was in fact the other way around. The union was there for the long haul.
The Labour Movement in Action
UFCW also took pains to involve the rest of the labour movement, even before the strike began. The union kept the AFL and its affiliates up-to-date as negotiations stalled and a strike seemed imminent.
They received technical support from the AFL immediately. Federation staff assisted with picket line and other strike leaflets, and helped provide detail for the union's strike website. AFL President Gil McGowan sent a letter to all the charities and community organizations that both materially support and financially benefit from Casino operations in the province asking them to cancel their casino nights until the strike was over.
He also asked them to help the labour movement pressure the government's Gaming and Liquor Commission into acting to help resolve the dispute.
The AFL also provided financial research for the union during the strike and issued news releases to try to keep the dispute in the public mind. Affiliates offered picket line support. The Edmonton Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Locals, for example, hosted a BBQ in support of the strikers at the picket line on Saturday, November 18, 2006. Other non-affiliated labour organizations were also active. The local chapter of the Industrial Workers of the World were out to the picket line constantly.
During Christmas 2006, the AFL sent out a special appeal to its affiliates on behalf of the strikers. As McMeckan noted, "Many unions gave very generously. Every striker received not only a turkey for their holiday celebrations, but Christmas presents for their families, a Christmas ‘bonus' cheque and a wonderful supper at the union's Christmas party complete with TVs and other great door prizes."
Hard Times for Palace Management
Palace Casino was owned and operated for most of the strike by the Gateway Casinos Income Fund. Gateway owned six casinos, five in B.C. and the Palace Casino in Edmonton. When Gateway's annual financial results for 2006 came out on March 15, 2007, the incredible effectives of the strike was there for all to see. In the 4th quarter of 2006 - which coincided with the first three months of the strike - operating earnings at Palace Casino were down a whopping 126.9%. The losses at the Palace were so bad that they were dragging down the overall performance of the Fund itself. Net earnings for the entire operation were down 3.6% compared to the 4th quarter of the previous year.
When the 1st quarter results for 2007 came out just two months later, the effect of the strike had become even more disastrous for the owners. First-quarter earnings had dropped from a profit of $1,8221,000 in 2006 to a loss of $913,000 in 2007. The Casino was operating deeply in the red! Given a red-hot Alberta economy where casino operations should be more profitable than the year before, this was a savage indictment of management tactics.
Overall Gateway Fund net earnings were now off 11.8% despite better performances at the B.C. casinos. The picket line was clearly effective. The AFL calculated that if management had met the union's wage and benefit proposals and avoided a strike, the operation would have saved over $5 million.
Still management was unwilling to budge at the bargaining table. This alone should convince even the most skeptical observer that there was an anti-union animus at work
that prevented management from settling even when their own survival was at stake.
The Australian Connection
Then, in April 2007, news came out that Australia's richest man, billionaire James D Packer was in the process of buying the Palace Casino's parent, the Gateway Casinos Fund. The AFL immediately sent a letter to Mr. Packer, apprising him of the financial consequences of the ongoing Palace dispute and "suggesting that he could restore good will in Edmonton and make the Palace Casino profitable again by encouraging a fair settlement of the dispute." McGowan managed to get the Palace strike reported in several important Australian financial publications.
In the meantime, AFL staff contacted the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, which represents workers at Packer's Australian casinos, and asked for their support. They were more than willing to help, expressing their willingness to assist with an international leaflet drop and dealing with the Australian media. Tim Ferrari, Assistant National Secretary of the union, provided useful information on Packer Australian operations and was helpful and supportive for the rest of the strike.
James D Packer's PBL Corporation took control of Gateway Casinos Income Fund on July 1, 2007. The UFCW Local 401 subsequently negotiated a first-rate collective agreement and the Palace strikers were back at work by July 10th.
There is no doubt that it was the rank-and-file workers on the picket line who ultimately won this strike. By choking off the Casino's profits, they created a situation in which any intelligent, logical management would have concluded a new union contract was a priority - exactly what the new owners did.
| Government Inaction Helped the Employer
The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission refused to use its powers of governance to try to facilitate a resolution to the dispute. The Commission also refused to assist charities and community organizations who wished to take a principled stand by respecting the picket line. The Commission could have guaranteed those organizations a future casino - but they refused. Since many organizations depend on the casino money for their ongoing operations, the Commission forced them into either cutting back their programs or acting as strikebreakers. As for the Conservative government's attitude to the strike - that is best be summed up by Christine McMeckan. "When we brought picketers to the Legislature's question period every day for months as special guests of the New Democrats, the Tories' disdain for these tax-paying, voting workers was evident in each and every introduction the NDP made for every individual striker." |
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