Canadian casino braces for strike

Thursday, March 29, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The company that manages Casino Windsor in Canada has canceled all hotel reservations and entertainment booked for the weekend in anticipation of an employee strike Sunday morning.

Windsor Casino Ltd., which manages the government-owned gaming and entertainment complex across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario, has posted a message on its website warning visitors that the casino might close Saturday.

Windsor Casino Ltd. is equally owned by Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas and Hilton Hotels Corp. of Beverly Hills, Calif.

The property originally was built by a consortium that also included Circus Circus Enterprises, the predecessor to Mandalay Resort Group of Las Vegas, which was bought out when that company decided to invest in its own property in Detroit in 1996.

Contract negotiations between Windsor Casino Ltd. and Canadian Auto Workers Local 444 have stalled after nearly three months of talks. The casino's 4,400 union members are ready to go on strike at 8 a.m. Sunday, when the current contract expires.

"We opened bargaining in December and have met every day since January," said Jerry Bastien, area director for CAW. "We hit a brick wall eight days ago and our last meeting was on Monday."

Jim Mundy, spokesman for Casino Windsor, said there are "significant philosophical differences" between management and union representatives in forging a new three-year contract.

"Their monetary package is way short of expectations," Bastien told the Detroit Free Press.

The union is seeking higher wages for all employees, who earn an average $10 an hour U.S., in addition to raises every year for the next three years. Bastien said the union is upset that Casino Windsor management wants to reduce the number of non-paid days off employees can take.

Mundy said management will decide Friday whether or not to close the gaming complex. If the decision is to close, guests will be asked to leave at 6 p.m. Saturday to meet the 8 a.m. Sunday strike deadline.

This is not the first time Casino Windsor has shut down over failed labor negotiations. It closed for three days in April 1998 when the smallest of its three bargaining units rejected a tentative agreement and it shut down for 27 days in March 1995.

Mundy estimated that the casino could lose $1.4 million in revenue each day it is closed. A shutdown could drive visitors across the border to one of Detroit's three casinos.

"We will be on alert for more visitors, but we will operate like we do everyday," said Roger Martin, spokesman for Greektown Casino. "Certainly those folks will be looking for a place to play and we will be there to welcome them."

Some experts believe only a long strike would do permanent damage to Casino Windsor, which many Michiganians prefer because of a favorable currency exchange rate.

But others have continued trekking over the border out of habit and perceived safety issues, and those patrons might be harder to win back even during a short strike.

"If they're forced to try a Detroit casino and have a good experience, they might get over any fear they might have had," Carl Braunlich, associate professor of tourism management at Purdue University, told the Detroit News.