The casino workers union has finally reached a new agreement with Resorts Casino. Union president Bob McDevitt stated that the officials of the casino had negotiated and agreed to a deal bearing similar terms as the other Atlantic City casinos.
As per the terms of this new deal, staff in housekeeping will now get a pay hike to $22 an hour. This pay hike should be actualized before the 4-year contract ends. Resorts staff will also get fully paid for health care plans, as well as pension benefits. Additional language was also affixed to the contract that will improve job protection, as well as offering casino workers more growth opportunities.
Most other casinos in Atlantic City have forged similar agreements with their casino workers. As of July 28th, the only other casino that had not signed a new agreement with its staff was Golden Nugget. The Nugget was given a deadline of July 30th to sign its contracts. Failing to do so would result in an authorized strike.
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Union had already warned of labor disputes
A few weeks before the contracts expired in May, the main union for casino workers had already warned operators of possible labor disputes that would arise if the casinos failed to agree on new contracts. The announcement was made at the start of the summer season, which is typically one of the most important and most lucrative for Atlantic City casinos.
Although the casinos in the city are far from full recovery after the devastating effects of the pandemic on the hospitality industry, the situation is much better than it was a year or two ago. As such, the union is upholding its mission of ensuring that workers’ rights are safeguarded.
The union has been fighting to keep casino workers from falling behind in an already struggling economy that is now characterized by labor shortages and inflation. The union has been aggressive in its push for increased wages in the upcoming contracts to assist its members to recover from the negative effect of the pandemic.
Failure to reach an agreement with the casino workers could end in disastrous results as it did in 2016 with the Trump Taj Mahal. In 2016, Local 54 members of the Unite-Here union were unable to reach new contracts with Taj Mahal, which had previously terminated the casino staff’s health insurance, as well as their pension benefits for more than 2 years.
Back then, Taj Mahal was one of the 5 casinos in AC targeted by the local union that failed to reach a new deal with its casino staff. In the months before, the casino had already enraged its unionized staff during its stint with bankruptcy. In October 2014, the casino successfully got a judge to cancel the staff’s health and pension benefits due to financial problems.
The Taj Mahal was once operated by former President Trump. However, wrangles with casino staff did not start until billionaire Carl Icahn took over the running of the hotel. The bankruptcy filing took place 5 years after Trump had relinquished control of the casino, as well as its parent company known as Trump Entertainment Resorts.
During the strike, Taj continued to remain open. However, it lost multi-millions and with no path to profitability, the casino resort had to be shut down. As a result of the closure, more than 3000 casino workers ended up losing their positions. During this last strike, the walkout persisted for a total of 34 days.
Local 54 unions helped with the contract negotiations with all 9 Atlantic City casinos and have been doing so for decades. This time, the union pointed out that all 9 casinos had collectively surpassed the level of in-person betting revenue that they had been experiencing before the pandemic. As such, casino workers deserved to have their salaries boosted as a result of the higher revenue numbers.
Local 54 was responsible for holding negotiations with Caesars Entertainment, which also operates Tropicana, Harrah’s, and Caesars brands. The union also held talks with MGM Resorts International, which operates Borgata, Oceans Casino, as well as Bally’s.
To ensure that the casinos took their demands seriously, the union created a website known as Atlantic City Travel Alert. The site was created specifically to warn visiting tourists that their summer plans would be impacted if the casinos failed to reach an agreement. This helped to prompt the casino administrators into action to prevent an extended walkout with disastrous repercussions.
Casinos in New Jersey, as well as horse tracks that offer lucrative sports wagering and online casino games, have been generating profits worth millions from gamblers. The revenue generated from in-person punters has also been improving gradually and is getting to pre-pandemic levels soon. There has been a continued pattern of recovery for casino operators and these changes need to become reflected in how casino workers are compensated.
Just this July, casinos in the state almost eclipsed the $300 million mark in gross revenue. Based on figures shared by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, casinos produced a gross gaming revenue of more than $299 million this July, which was a boost of 31% compared to June’s performance.
With all of the city’s casinos performing much better than they did a year or two ago, casinos should be fully capable of fully accommodating their staff members’ needs. With these pay rises, casino staff should have no problems taking care of their day-to-day needs and other incidentals.
Final Thoughts
Meanwhile, Resorts Digital announced recently that it had entered into a new partnership with Slot Squad, a well-known influencer team. Resorts Digital is Resorts Casino’s digital arm of the business and is operated by Mohegan Sun. Slot Squad and Resorts Digital will work together to create brand new online content and experiences for Resorts’ customers.
With this new partnership, Resorts Digital should be able to diversify its product offering better, which is bound to attract more customers and improve the brand’s profit margins. If the financial circumstances of the brand improve, then the casino workers’ outlook should also advance.
