Caesars Windsor lays off more employees

Caesars Windsor laid off 27 employees Monday.

Employees at the casino arenow going through a bumping process that began Tuesday.

The employees laid offinclude cleaning staff, guest room attendants and buffet servers, all of whom are represented by CAW Local 444. Ten worked part-time hours and 17 were full-time employees.

Dino Chiodo isLocal 444'snewly elected local president.

"I'll tell you what's disappointing: you got Dalton McGuinty's group and Dwight Duncan suggesting that when Windsor Raceway shut down,most of these individuals would go and spend their money at the Windsor casino. And you can see quite clearly that that's not true at all," Chiodo said. "And this is just resonating that."

Caesars disagreed with Chiodo.

"Its a balance of our business climate with our revenue. Its a slower time of year for us," said Jhoan Baluyot, Caesars Windsor'smanager of public relations and communications. "Usually, this time is a slower time of the year for us."

Baluyot said "layoffs are one of the last decisions we make"when it comes balancing the budget. If business picks up, workers will be recalled, she said.

"Its hard for us to predict when it will pick up again," Baluyot said.

Chiodo said theprevious round of layoffs at Caesars was just a few weeks ago,when eightemployees received notice.

The latest round of layoffs came a day after Caesars Windsor CEO Kevin Laforet announcedthe casino has a "defence plan" to stave off compeitionfrom casinos already in Detroit and two more slated to open in Ohio later in May.

Laforet boasted that Caesars Windsor had some of the best staff and service in the industry.