Strike: Lotto 6/49 draws suspended until further notice in Quebec

An improved version of the Lotto 6/49 lottery will be postponed in the province due to a strike by Lotto-Québec employees.

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Loto-Québec will interrupt Lotto 6/49 draws after the September 10 draw.

“It is technically impossible to continue the game in its current form beyond this date as other provinces will switch to the new improved version,” the company defended in a press release on Wednesday.

Scheduled for September 14, the draw will be postponed only in Quebec.

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Verification of Lotto 6/49 tickets will not be possible at retailers or on the app from September 11, but ticket holders are encouraged to hold onto their ticket until the situation returns to normal.

“Incomprehensible” attitude

The Union of Quebec Government Professionals (SPGQ) is outraged that Lotto-Quebec would rather lose millions than negotiate with its professional staff.

“These losses outweigh the wage increases demanded by the union. This attitude is completely incomprehensible,” SPGQ lamented through a press release on Wednesday afternoon.

The union said it had scheduled a mediation session for Tuesday to advance negotiations, but the employer decided to cancel it.

“Many of our members go to work, especially at another state-owned company, Hydro-Québec, because the conditions there are more advantageous. We cannot understand the stubbornness of Lotto-Québec and the Secretariat of the Treasury Board, not to give professional staff the salary and conditions they deserve,” said said Guillaume Bouvrette, SPGQ’s third vice-president and political manager of Loto-Quebec.

According to him, Loto-Québec turns to external foreign companies to implement various mandates. “In addition to leading to a loss of expertise in Quebec, the use of consultants is very expensive,” said Mr. Bouvret suggested.

He estimates that Lotto-Quebec pays at least $25 million in subcontracts each year.

“Even by improving working conditions, Loto-Québec will be financially better off managing its projects internally,” he said.

At the end of August, 72% of Loto-Québec employees rejected an agreement in principle with management.

“Lotto-Québec’s professional staff are particularly disappointed with the employer’s salary offer, as it deprives them of their purchasing power due to inflation in recent months,” the union said at the time.

For unionized employees, salaries offered when duties permit and the impossibility of full-time telework, for example, “harm staff attraction and retention”.

SPGQ stated that the employer proposed to the party to hold a joint meeting with the Treasury Board to reach an increase in the current offers, but “the employer ignored this request” and that it “is limited to providing an increase in the number of working hours to increase the annual wages.

The affected employees work in areas such as information technology, communications, sales and marketing, finance, procurement and real estate and the legal sector.