Atlantic City casino workers' union greenlights early July strike if new agreements not reached by then

Atlantic City casino workers authorized Wednesday a call to strike against the venues if new agreements are not reached by the beginning of July. Members of Local 54 of the Unite Here union greenlit their negotiating committee to call a July 1 strike against Borgata and the three casinos owned by Caesars Entertainment -Caesars, Harrah’s and Tropicana-, and a July 3 strike against Hard Rock. 

Union president Bob McDevitt said 96% of the "several thousand" union members who cast ballots did so in favor of authorizing said strikes, according to Associated Press. "The industry better not take this lightly", he warned after the vote.

The contracts expired over two weeks ago, and talks have yet to reach a new deal. While the "yes" vote does not imply an immediate strike, it gives the union's negotiating committee the power to potentially call it.  

Bob McDevitt

McDevitt stated the union has so-called "me-too" agreements with Bally's and the Ocean Casino Resort specifying that they will honor the terms of contracts reached with the city's larger properties. That effectively guarantees those two casinos will not be struck.

The union president stated that Bally's and Ocean are "in the green zone", differentiating them from Resorts and Golden Nugget, placing them in "the yellow zone." The rest have been described as in "the red zone."

Union members said they are ready to walk out if the call comes, as they intend to adjust their wages in the next contract to deal with financial setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic and rapidly rising prices. 

The approval could potentially give the union the upper hand in negotiations over the next two weeks. The nine casinos in Atlantic City would most likely suffer great losses should their staff walk off the job during the long July 4 Independence Day weekend.

The labor dispute comes as some casinos and their online partners are collectively making more money now than before the pandemic hit. However, venues argue that those statistics are “misleading” as they get to keep only 30% of online and sports betting money, with the rest going to their third-party partners. They also claim that in-person revenue won from gamblers is the crucial metric, and not all properties have surpassed their pre-COVID levels. 

The union went on strike in 2004 for 34 days, and walked out against the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in July 2016, which ended with the casino shutting down in October of that year. It has since reopened under different ownership as the Hard Rock.

The union warned about potential “labor disputes” last month, and opened a new website called actravelalert.org. The site works as a service for convention planners and travelers who need to know whether labor disputes could affect their Atlantic City plans.