A year and a half ago, I wrote an article about 150 workers trying to unionize at the casino in Lethbridge.
The casino is owned by Pure Casino Gaming Group, also known as Pure Canadian Gaming, which is based out of Edmonton. They operate 4 casinos in Alberta: 2 in Edmonton and 1 each in Calgary and Lethbridge.
Their Calgary location has been unionized since June 2004, represented by Local 4655 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Pure Casino Gaming, in turn, is owned by ONCAP, a mid-market private equity platform of Onex, which is itself a Toronto-based investment management company.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees filed a application on 6 December 2024 to certify these workers as a bargaining unit.
It took 4 months for the Alberta Labour Relations Board to approve the application and to hold a certification vote, which a majority of the workers supported.
It could’ve been successful sooner, but AUPE filed an complaint with the ALRB back in January 2025, accusing Pure Casino Gaming of unionbusting, after they disciplined one of their workers who had supported the unionization drive.
Last summer, the bargaining team for the workers received a mandate to focus their negotiations on wage increases, extended health benefits, sick leave provisions, and protections against unfair discipline. After meetings with fellow workers in October and November, they were ready to begin bargaining with the employer.
A year later, this past February, AUPE filed a second application accusing Pure Casino Gaming of unionbusting. They had terminated the employment of one of the workers who had been elected to the bargaining committee just weeks after negotiations began on their first collective agreement.
Then, the following month, Pure Casino Gaming laid off another union organizer and disciplined another, both of whom were apparently also elected by their fellow workers to sit on the bargaining committee.
That makes 4 workers they allegedly targeted for supporting the union, 3 of whom were on the bargaining committee.
Well, last week, AUPE published an update on their website regarding negotiations on the same collective agreement, which has still not been reached, despite more than a year passing by since the workers unionized.
According to AUPE’s latest update, Pure Casino Gaming is once again unionbusting, or—at the very least—dragging their feet.
AUPE claims that on the first day of a recent multi-day negotiation session, one of the members of Pure Casino Gaming’s negotiating team left negotiations. They were gone so long, that the two parties had to end the session for the day.
On the second day, AUPE claims, Pure Casino Gaming did not like the meeting room AUPE had picked and refused to negotiate that day. That makes two completely wasted days.
Then on the third day, Pure Casino Gaming cut negotiations short barely into discussions.
The two parties did end up finally being able to begin negotiations, but were able to agree on just a handful of articles. They signed off on a 6-month probationary period, free parking, and articles on legislation and date of injury pay.
Pure Casino Gaming has begun insisting on virtual bargaining sessions, but the workers’ bargaining team insists on meeting in person. They have also proposed alternating between Calgary and Lethbridge locations to accommodate the negotiating team for Pure Casino Gaming.
The workers’ bargaining team has proposed new bargaining dates for July, so it looks like a tentative agreement is likely still months away.
