ATLANTIC CITY
Casino strike strong
By Joseph Piette
Member, Letter Carriers Branch 157
Two weeks into it, some 10,000 Atlantic City casino and
hotel workers are still strong in the longest strike in the
26-year history of New Jersey's casino industry.
Bartenders, cooks, valets, food servers, cocktail servers,
housekeepers and other service workers--all members of UNITE
HERE Local 54--are out on strike. They walked out at Bally's,
Caesar's, Resorts, Har rah's, the Hilton Casino Resort, the
Showboat Casino Hotel and the Tropi cana. Dealers, cashiers,
and security workers who are not unionized remain at work.
The Marina, the Taj Mahal and the Plaza--all Donald Trump
properties--and the Sands have settled on a three-year
contract. They agreed to pay all health-care premiums, give a
bonus in lieu of a wage increase and limit use of
subcontracting. The new Borgata has a contract that expires in
2007 and is not affected.
Union workers want the casinos to stop subcontracting work
at restaurants, clubs and other attractions to non-union
employers. The Tropicana is a favorite target of the union for
its plans to subcontract an immense new development of
restaurants, shops and clubs this fall, all with non-union
lease holders.
The union wants fully paid health-care benefits to continue,
while the casinos want employees to share the costs.
And after years of corporate consolidation in the casino
industry, workers want to level the playing field with a
three-year contract. Such a deal would add Atlantic City's
workers to the same contract negotiating cycle as casino
workers in Las Vegas, Detroit, Chicago and riverboat-casino
cities nationwide.
This would give all the workers more clout at the bargaining
table, including the power to call a nationwide casino strike,
if necessary.
Atlantic City's struck casinos, in contrast, want a
five-year contract.
The work force is multi-cultural, and so is union
organizing. Chants in English are often followed by chants in
Spanish. Many UNITE HERE T-shirts are in English and
Spanish.
Organizers direct their members at rallies in both
languages. At least one janitor carries a sign about Bally's
"unfair labor practices"--the top in English, below that in
Chinese.
The noise from daily picketing is deafening. Chants of
"strike" are interspersed with the sound of whistles and wooden
sticks hitting signs, plastic buckets, pots and pans to
Caribbean rhythms. All of it is meant to reach those foolish
enough to think they could sleep or gamble in the hotels
despite the strike.
Oct. 10 was Family Day. Thousands of strikers brought their
families to the boardwalk picket lines.
"We feel like the casinos put us in a position of trying to
put food on the table while they make all the money. We want
them to see our families' faces," said bartender Al Tabei.
On Oct 8, as 3,000 strikers chanted, "No justice, no peace,"
police arrested 100 unionists for blocking resort traffic at
Atlantic and Missouri Avenues. This is where the Atlantic City
Expressway empties into the narrow city streets.
As police hustled her away, Dolores Nolan, who said she has
11 grandchildren, said, "I am so proud to do this for my union
because this is the only way those casinos will know we mean
business." Nolan has worked as a housekeeper at the Tropicana
Casino & Resort for 15 years.
Local 54 President Robert McDevitt was arrested first. After
him came Vice President Al Cohen, UNITE HERE Hospi tality
Division President John Wilhelm, 65-year-old Chitu Patel and
dozens more.
Arrestees were given summonses for blocking a roadway, a
petty disorderly persons offense. Punishment could include up
to one yea's probation and a $500 fine. None of the protesters
was detained.
On Sept. 16, in preparation for the strike, more than 7,000
workers had staged a loud demonstration on the beach and
boardwalk. It was the largest labor demonstration in Atlantic
City history.
Union members qualify for $200 a week in strike pay if they
picket four hours a day. As of Oct. 10, no talks were
scheduled.
Reprinted from the Oct. 21, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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