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Casino close to deal with employees

Employees at casinos in Penticton, Kamloops, Kelowna and Vernon have been on strike since June 29
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Union Cascades Casino workers in Penticton walking the picket line recently. Tara Bowie/Western News Staff

After close to five months on the picket lines employees at casinos in Penticton, Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops might soon be returning to work.

The details of the tentative agreement are not public and have not yet been presented to the almost 700 employees from the Gateway Casino’s four locations in the Thompson Okanagan.

Related: Okanagan casino workers on their 10th week of strike action

The deal is expected to be presented in a special employee meeting sometime early next week and then voted on soon after, a representative from BCGEU told the Penticton Western News.

Employees walked off the job at 3:01 p.m. on June 29, setting up picket lines in front of the Cascades Kamloops, Cascades Penticton, Playtime Kelowna and Lake City Vernon casinos after mediation talks broke down. At the time, the union said Gateway refuses to pay its workers what they are worth.

Contract negotiations have been ongoing since the last collective agreement expired in September 2017.