Want a job? Apply at OLG, these men say (2 photos)

Top brass with Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) say the corporation's office at Sault Ste. Marie's Roberta Bondar Place is still officially considered to be OLG's head office.

In addition, OLG says the corporation is committed to keeping jobs in the Sault, even as it goes through its modernization process.

Under modernization, many jobs (but not all) currently done by OLG will be performed instead by private sector companies with lottery and gaming expertise, with those jobs going to successful private sector bidders.

"We are committed to building job opportunities in Sault Ste. Marie, we are posting jobs and moving people up here, and we're relying on the community to do its part to supply the talent we need to fill those jobs, these are good jobs, they're highly trained jobs," said Philip Olsson, OLG board of directors chair, speaking to reporters at the OLG office Thursday.

Olsson was on hand with Stephen Rigby,OLG president and CEO, Greg McKenzie, OLG executive vice president and chief operating officer, and David Orazietti, Sault MPP.

The OLG board of directors is in the Sault for its monthly meeting.

The board meets in the Sault, away from the OLG Toronto office, once a year.

Olsson conceded the modernization process is a factor in people applying for jobs at OLG, but said "there'll be more jobs after modernization if the community does what we're asking it to do (provide private sector gaming expertise to run part of OLG's operations)."

"If you're qualified, you can work at OLG and be a highly trained person and then if you don't like what you're seeing and you want to work somewhere else, then it's an opportunity to start your career in a very sophisticated working environment," Olsson said.

There are about 70 jobs currently posted for the Sault Ste. Marie OLG office, McKenzie told reporters.

Olsson said he does not anticipate modernization to be affected by an Ontario Labour Relations Board vote, held August 13, to decide whether 400 workers at OLG should become unionized with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

The outcome of that vote is still not final.

175 votes were cast in favour of certification, 129 votes were cast against, with 61 segregated ballots.

When the number of segregated ballots exceeds the margin of the vote, the matter has to go to the Ontario Labour Relations Board to be resolved.

Segregated ballots are ballots kept separate from other ballots, and stem from disagreements from the employer and employees as to whether certain positions should be unionized. 

"The vote's not fully final but we have organized labour in many locations around the province with many different unions, we respect the right of people to organize and we'll work with whatever the workers ask us to work with," Olsson said.

"The casinos have all been organized for two decades now across Ontario, as they are across North America, and those contracts have to be assumed by the successful proponent (in modernization) if they're the winner…I don't see it as an issue," Olsson said.

It is not yet known which private sector players will operate the Northern bundle, which consists of lottery and gaming facilities in the Sault, Kenora, North Bay, Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

However, OLG brass say progress is being made in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process.

"With regard to the Northern bundle I'm extremely happy with the progress that's being made there…the progress is good," McKenzie told reporters.

"These are complex transactions and these are large sophisticated organizations we're working with," Olsson said.

Olsson, Rigby, McKenzie and OLG board members met Wednesday with Sault Mayor Christian Provenzano, the majority of city councillors, EDC CEO Tom Dodds and Innovation Centre Executive Director Tom Vair.

"We wanted to register with council the importance of the partnering…we're creating the jobs and we need the people and the skills to fill them, it's a huge opportunity for the Sault and we want to be sure you take advantage of it," Olsson told reporters.

"The meeting went really well," Sault Mayor Christian Provenzano told SooToday.

"The crux of it was OLG made a commitment to city council to keep employment in Sault Ste. Marie, they pointed out they have jobs currently vacant in Sault Ste. Marie and they wanted us to encourage people to apply for these jobs, and if those jobs are filled they stay here."

"The city made the point to the OLG that people might be reticent to apply for those jobs if they're concerned about the stability of those jobs but OLG provided the assurance those jobs are stable jobs and encouraged us to do what we can to get people to apply for them," Provenzano said.

"Post-modernization, the OLG is still going to exist and we have to ensure we maintain a significant portion of those OLG jobs, I think there's some confusion in the community that post-modernization means all the jobs will be privatized, but that's not the case."

"There will still be public sector jobs here and we have to do our part to maximize the number of those jobs we can keep, and I'm confident we have a number of people working hard to maximize that and I'm hopeful we will be successful," Provenzano said. 

(PHOTO: Sault MPP David Orazietti with OLG board of directors chair Philip Olsson at the Sault's OLG office, August 27, 2015. Darren Taylor/SooToday)