Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries saving millions with casinos shut down

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This article was published 29/05/2020 (2246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A major workforce reduction at Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries is saving the Crown corporation millions in payroll expenses, with casino operations paused until at least late June.

MLL president and chief executive officer Manny Atwal said it has cut $1.3 million in expenses per pay period through the temporary layoff of 1,300 employees.

During a meeting of the standing committee on Crown corporations, held Thursday at the Manitoba legislature, Atwal told MLAs the layoffs amounted to roughly 40 per cent of MLL workforce. The Crown corporation redeployed 136 casino staff to other areas, including liquor distribution and home delivery services.

He said MLL explored a number of options, including worksharing and reduced work weeks, instead of layoffs.

“We’re presented with a couple of challenges to that, first and foremost, we have two business units that have zero work,” Atwal said. “The casinos are zero; it’s not like they’re down — they’re out. Our VLTs weren’t down, they were out.”

The Crown corporation was forced to close its casinos and VLT network as part of the provincial government’s COVID-19 pandemic response.

Casino staff were kept on the company payroll until the end of March, and were allowed to use leave time as of April 1. Once leaves were exhausted, temporary layoffs came into play.

“We worked very closely with all the unions and got total union support to reposition 136 employees from our gaming unions to our liquor groups,” Atwal said. “With the (Canadian Emergency Relief Benefit) available retroactive to March 15, it was another avenue for us to feel that we were able to take care of some of the employees.”

Atwal said employees have been able to retain their benefits.

Since April 1, roughly five pay periods have passed, with potential payroll savings surpassing $6 million.

While the workforce reduction has been significant, Atwal said the Crown corporation has found just 15 to 20 per cent in savings in operating costs since pandemic restrictions began in mid-March.

Other expenses have crept up, despite casino operations coming to a halt, including ongoing costs required to secure and maintain empty facilities, the purchase of personal protective equipment, and COVID-19 protocols at Liquor Marts and the distribution centre.

Atwal said MLL hopes to resume casino operations by June 21, the date prescribed in the provincial government’s “restoring safe services” plan.

Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Michelle Gawronsky said more than 200 casino staff represented by the union were laid off.

“Although we hoped that everyone could have been redeployed, we are grateful that these are temporary layoffs, and our members will be back to work when we hit Phase 3 (of the province’s reopening plan),” Gawronsky said Friday in a statement.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca