Casino cooks lost jobs during pandemic, file Manitoba Labour Board complaint alleging discrimination

A trio of Filipino cooks who used to work at two Winnipeg casinos have filed a complaint with the Manitoba Labour Board, alleging they were discriminated against after Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries failed to recall them after pandemic restrictions lifted. 

The women worked as cooks in the casinos' staff cafeterias, and say they were first laid off at the beginning of April 2020, thinking it would just be for a few weeks while Manitoba businesses were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

But when the McPhillips Station and Club Regent casinos reopened that summer, they say they weren't brought back, despite each woman having worked there for close to a decade and believing they had seniority. 

By fall of 2021, they still had not been recalled and were later told their positions had been eliminated, and were offered lower paying positions. 

"I trusted and looked up to MBLL [Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries] because I thought it was a great company that advocated social responsibility, positive culture, and impartiality," wrote Estrella Acido in her complaint against MBLL, and Manitoba Government Employees Union, the union representing them. 

"I am saddened that MBLL, that prides itself for being an organization that demonstrates said values in all its behaviours, is failing to recognize me in my most vulnerable point of life specially during these difficult times of the pandemic."

Acido, along with Anicia Reyes and Yolanda Bulan, filed complaints with the Manitoba Labour Board at the end of May against Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries and Manitoba Government Employees Union, the union representing them. 

They said they were discriminated against because they were older and Filipino, and argued that MGEU failed to take reasonable care to represent their interests. 

Casinos were one of the last businesses to reopen following the first round of pandemic restrictions in 2020. They were permitted to reopen at 30 per cent capacity in August 2020. 

In June 2020, then-MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky said the union expected that food and beverage workers would be recalled soon. 

But that wasn't the case for Acido. Months went by, and Acido says her manager never contacted her about coming back to work, despite seeing postings for other positions.

"From that time, it was really hard for us to cope financially," said Acido. 

She reached out to her manager in October 2021 after the province's pandemic restrictions were lifted entirely, but says she was told to apply for a different position. 

She said she went to her union, Manitoba Government Employees Union, contacting them multiple times with little success. Acido says she finally reached the president of the union, Kyle Ross, in November, but he told her there was nothing they could do for her.