GM Place food and beverage workers will vote March 7 on whether to strike for a new contract with catering giant Aramark.
UNITE HERE Local 40, the union that represents the 750 workers, says negotiations are going nowhere. Wages, cramped locker room conditions and worries about being displaced during the 2010 Winter Olympics are among the workers' issues. The contract expired last December.
A request to interview Aramark's GM Place manager Michael Cassidy was referred to Kristine Grow at head office in Philadelphia. She said talks include a provincial mediator, but some of the union matters are outside the collective bargaining agreement.
The locker room "is not a matter to be negotiated, we're looking for a solution." Grow said the company can't offer workers a guarantee of Olympic work because Aramark is at the mercy of VANOC.
