Members of Atlantic City’s largest casino workers union voted Wednesday to authorize a strike against most of the city’s casinos, two weeks after both sides failed to negotiate a new contract before the old one expired.
The vote does not mean members of Unite Here Local 54 — housekeepers, bartenders, cooks, bell hops and other service jobs — will strike immediately.
However, it does give the union’s negotiating committee power to call a work stoppage if an agreement isn’t reached with Caesars, Harrah’s, the Tropicana and the Borgata by July 1 and the Hard Rock by July 3.
With both deadlines during the July 4 weekend, a walk out amid the holiday rush is not out of the question.
While a strike wouldn’t shut down the casinos, it could still hamper travel accommodations such as house cleaning and luggage assistance as well as food and beverage services. Also, casinos could experience a drop in revenue and workers could lose out on pay.
“We want to survive on a livable wage,” said Rodney Mills Jr., 48, a housekeeper and former buffet beverage server who’s worked at the Tropicana for 30 years. “That’s why we’re calling for a strike if we need to.”
The previous major union action occurred in July 2016 when workers picketed against the Trump Taj Mahal casino for 102 days, which ended in the casino shutting down in October of that year. It has since reopened under different ownership as the Hard Rock.
The last time union members from more than one casino went on strike was in 2004 when 10,000 workers staged a month-long walkout from seven of the city’s then-12 casinos.
How did we get here?
Contracts at seven of the city’s nine current casinos expired on May 31, including those owned by Caesars Entertainment — Caesars, Harrah’s and the Tropicana — the Borgata, Golden Nugget, Hard Rock and Resorts Atlantic City.
They were also set to expire at Ocean Casino Resort and Bally’s, but the union reached an agreement with both to follow the terms of the contract negotiated with Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, which owns the Borgata, and Hard Rock, according to Unite Here spokeswoman Bethany Holmes.
The union is yet to reach an agreement with Golden Nugget and Resorts Atlantic City but workers at both casinos were not part of Wednesday’s strike vote, said Holmes.
Representatives for Caesars and the Borgata did not return a request for comment.
Demands for an increase in wages and workers
The union’s biggest demand is a “substantial” increase in wages, which they argue would help not only current workers make ends meet but also attract new workers to combat an ongoing labor shortage.
As of March, the average wage at Caesar Entertainment casinos was about $15.81 per hour for non-tipped workers and $8.80 for tipped workers, according to the union.
New Jersey’s current minimum wage is $13 per hour and is set to increase to $15 by 2024.
The union says that casino wages have not kept pace with those offered by other Atlantic County employers, such as convenience stores and cleaning services. As the cost of living has risen rapidly over the past year, this has caused many casino workers to struggle to afford food, housing and other expenses, they said.
“I’m a single parent and the cost of everything is really going up,” said Mills, a father of three. “So, I’m trying to do the best for my kids. Calling for the authorization of this strike definitely leans towards that.”
And, heading into the summer season, the union says the industry will need to hire 2,500 additional workers in order to meet labor demands.
More workers would also help respond to another issue the industry is facing, according to the union: a shortage of housekeeping staff necessary to keep rooms clean and abide by the law.
In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law new provisions that require hotels to sanitize guest rooms and public areas and maintain minimum staffing levels for hotel front desks. The law mandates “that every occupied guest room is cleaned and sanitized every day and that the room is provided with an adequate supply of clean towels, sheets, and pillowcases and that the towels, sheets, and pillowcases that are changed no less frequently than once every day.”
Casino revenue increases
Workers say they are being “left behind” while the Atlantic City casino industry is making more money than it did before the pandemic.
Last month, the nine casinos and their partners made $233 million in revenue from in-person gaming and $136 million from internet gaming, according to the Division of Gaming Enforcement. When compared to May 2021, these represent a 9.3% and 25.7% increase in revenue, respectively.
In May 2019, the casinos took in $276.8 million from in-person gambling and $38.3 million from internet gaming. This reflects more than a 17% increase in revenue from a comparable, pre-peak season period from before the pandemic.
From the beginning of this year through May, the industry has made a combined $2.03 billion from both types of gaming and sports wagering, per the Division of Gaming Enforcement.
In 2021, the industry’s net revenue was $3 billion and gross operating profit was $766.8 million, according to the Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Casinos contend these numbers are misleading, however, because third-party partners keep nearly three-quarters of the money made from online and sports betting, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
In-person gaming revenue is a better indicator of recovery, they argue. Only the Borgata, Hard Rock and Ocean Casino have surpassed their January-to-May in-person revenue from 2019.
Why authorize the strike?
Regarding the strike authorization, Mills said the sentiment among his fellow employees was “almost unanimous.” Just 4% of workers voted Wednesday against authorizing the strike. The reason for this, he said, is that raising wages is “the right thing to do.”
Winning a new contract would make things “much better” not just for Mills’ family but for all casino workers and their families.
“I’m not a selfish person,” he said. “It’s all about ‘we’ and not ‘me.’”
Aedy Miller is a multimedia journalist covering education, labor, climate change, mental health and the intersections thereof for the Burlington County Times, Courier-Post and The Daily Journal. Reach them at amiller4@gannett.com.
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