Niagara Falls Needs Both Casinos, AND Good Jobs

1. Having two casinos in Niagara Falls is vital to the continued economic prosperity of the city.
2. Prosperity will only be guaranteed if the jobs at the casino and in the surrounding tourism industry are good jobs. Goods jobs are jobs where:
   • workers earn a living wage that allows them to support their families in dignity
   • workers are respected and receive the training they require to work safely and pursue career advancement opportunities,
   • workers are ensured of benefits, including secure pensions
   • workers are free to join and be active in unions where their collective bargaining rights are respected
3. So as to advance the interests of everyone in Niagara Falls, workers must be included in discussions surrounding the future of the Casinos. Workers must be given the opportunity to select representatives who will be at the table alongside the hotel owners and other interested parties.

Niagara Fall's two casinos are an important part of our local economy and employ more people than the city's next 8 largest employers combined. Those other 8 employers are hotel and restaurant companies which are at least partially dependant on the casino to attract visitors to Niagara Falls.

Fifty years ago, things looked very different in the Niagara region. While there was a thriving tourism industry, the bulk of our local economy was centred on manufacturing and the jobs it created in our community. The loss of those manufacturing jobs has directly affected the standard of living for people in Niagara. While the 1960s saw our region enjoying one of the highest per capita incomes in Canada, the Niagara region now has the lowest median income in all of Ontario.

Families in Niagara Falls are struggling. Many workers in this area are making very close to the minimum wage and are subject to seasonal unemployment as is typical in the tourism industry. And yet, the tourism industry in Niagara Falls continues to reap massive profits each year.

If we want Niagara Falls and all of its citizen's to prosper, we need to demand more than just the simple fact that our two casinos remain open. We also need to demand that the jobs at those two casinos and in the surrounding tourism industry are the kind of good jobs that can sustain our families and allow us to live in security and dignity. We need to ensure the people who work at the casinos and the surrounding hotels are just as involved in discussions between the city and the province on the casinos future as the tourism owners clearly already are.

Workers are prepared to get involved if they are only given the chance.