Bulletin
Gateway Casinos-MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT – RETURN TO OPERATIONS
June 30, 2020
To: All MoveUP Members at Gateway Casinos
Your Union has been in discussions with your Employer regarding the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and reopening or a return to operations. The parties have tentatively agreed to a complex Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Your Union wants to ensure you that both parties have collaborated and will continue to collaborate through these difficult times and this agreement will guide the parties through this process. In this agreement members are given options, several members will qualify and benefit from CEWS, however not all of you will based on your hours of work and whether you are full time, part time or a casual. The MOA also includes a continuation of benefits until August 31, 2020, for those of you who currently receive benefits.
For those that qualify for CEWS, we need to know if you want this applied retroactively to June 7, 2020. This will mean that you will have to work with CERB to repay what you have earned from that program. If a majority of you want the CEWS to go back to June 7, 2020 we can accomplish that or if a majority of you would prefer to have CEWS start on July 5, 2020 to avoid dealing with CERB, I will need to know by 6 p.m. today.
This MOA considers all employees on a closure leave and not a layoff. Layoff is one of the options you will have under this MOA as well as options for voluntary leave. All members are still entitled to any leave pursuant to Employment Standards, for example, maternity or parental leave. Regardless of what leave you are considered on through the MOA, you will need to notify your Employer should you need to be on a different leave with respect to Employment Standards.
We are attaching the draft as a link for you to review, click here to view. If you have any questions or concerns please email your union representative at kquinn@moveuptogether.ca by 4 p.m. today so that we can effectively respond to all of your questions.
The parties have agreed that once the Casino’s re-open we need to ensure that we meet to discuss how shifts and other issues in the collective agreements are properly managed so we will be ensuring we have monthly joint consultation meetings with the job stewards. We currently have one job steward at the Penticton casino, but no job stewards at Langley. Please advise your union representative, Kelly Quinn, at kquinn@moveuptogether.ca and your Vice President of combined units, Christy Slusarenko, cslusarenko@moveuptogether.ca if you are interested in becoming a job steward. We do provide training and it is a great experience which will benefit you and the members to have an active representative within your Union.
In Solidarity
Kelly Quinn
Union Representative