CBC NEWS October 23, 2009 | 12:17 PM PT
There could be pickets around one Olympic venue during the 2010 Games after the union representing office workers at Hastings Racecourse voted 74 per cent in favour of job action on Friday morning. VANOC ordered the horse racing track in East Vancouver's Hastings Park to close for the month of February during the Games, because of its proximity to the Pacific Coliseum, the venue for some of the figure skating and short track speed skating events.
The 200 workers, who are members of Canadian Office and Profession Employees union L ocal 378, want their employer to find them alternate work during the closure or pay them compensation for the missed work, said union representative Kelly Quinn.The City of Vancouver, which owns the site, has already agreed to waive the racetrack's $100,000 lease for the month during the Games that it will be closed.When the closure was announced in March, the company said it was working with VANOC to secure temporary jobs for its staff.But with the Games fast approaching, the union says there is no deal in place for workers, and if no deal is reached, the union plans to set up picket lines in view of the Olympic venue in February, she said.
"We had a proposal on the table to have our members compensated either through alternate work, work through Great Canadian Casinos — the parent company of Hastings [Racetrack] — or compensating them for this forced layoff," said Quinn.But so far, no offers have been forthcoming from the employer, according to Quinn."Hastings has refused to come back to the bargaining table since February so there's been no discussion with us about how our members are going to be impacted or how we move forward," said Quinn.Hastings Racecourse could not be reached for comment.
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