ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - The head of Atlantic City's
main casino workers union said Tuesday that a strike is likely against at least
one of five casinos this week.
Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE
union, said the union remains in talks with Bally's, Caesars, Harrah's,
Tropicana and the Trump Taj Mahal. All five could be hit by walkouts if
contracts are not reached by Friday, ahead of the July Fourth holiday weekend.
He said the union's concern is to ensure casinos continue
to provide a decent middle-class living for workers. The union is trying to
recoup concessions it made in past years when casinos were in worse financial
shape. The casinos say they are committed to a deal that is fair to both sides.
"We want back what we gave up voluntarily to help
our employers," McDevitt said. "They have the memory of a goldfish:
Every 10 seconds they forget what you've done for them."
McDevitt said talks are progressing at different rates
with Caesars Entertainment, which owns Bally's, Caesars and Harrah's, and
billionaire Carl Icahn, who owns Tropicana and the Taj Mahal.
"We're closer in some cases with Trop and closer in
some instances with Caesars," he said.
As expected, the Taj Mahal has been a particular sticking
point. Its former owners, Trump Entertainment Resorts, got a bankruptcy court
judge to terminate union members' health care and pension benefits in 2014
before Icahn took the casino over. McDevitt said those cuts cannot be allowed
to stand, particularly because of a "most favored employer" clause
that gives casinos the right to adopt the terms of a more favorable deal
reached with others.
"If the Taj Mahal contract ends up not having health
care or pensions or a wage increase, that would quickly become the standard for
the rest of the industry," he said.
A Caesars Entertainment official said the company's goal
is to keep workers on the job under a fair contract. A Tropicana official
declined to comment Tuesday.
About 6,500 of the union's nearly 10,000 workers who
serve drinks, cook food and clean hotel rooms would strike if a deal is not
reached. Borgata, Resorts and the Golden Nugget would not be affected by a
strike because the union is not targeting them, saying they have adopted better
stances toward their workers.
Elaine Malloy has served drinks at Bally's for nearly 26
years, at a base salary before tips of $8.99 an hour.
"It's a disgrace to work for $8.99 an hour, to pay
for a mortgage, utility bills, food, clothing," she said. "Everything
is going up, and my wage hasn't."
The union agreed to givebacks or went without increases
in benefits and salary in past negotiations to help the casinos as their bottom
lines were increasingly threatened by the oversaturated Northeastern U.S.
casino market. In 2014, four of Atlantic City's 12 casinos went out of
business. Now, with less competition, their finances are starting to stabilize.
"People are not going to work for 10 years without a
wage increase," McDevitt said. "We're not in a Stalinist state where
you can force workers to work for whatever you say."
Additional talks with the three Caesars Entertainment
casinos and the Tropicana are scheduled for Wednesday and with the Taj Mahal on
Thursday.
Source: Philly.com
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