Atlantic City union leader warning of ‘disputes’ over employee contracts

In Atlantic City and the leader of the Local 54 branch of the Unite Here trade union has reportedly warned of ‘disputes’ for those casinos in the New Jersey community that fail to agree to improve employee contracts by a May 31 2022 deadline.

According to a report from the Associated Press news service, the counsel from Bob McDevitt (pictured) comes as his local union is attempting to help casino employees recover from the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic via the securance of ‘significant’ wage increases. This campaign purportedly involves talks with Caesars Entertainment Incorporated, which runs the Caesars Atlantic City Hotel and Casino, Tropicana Atlantic City and Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City properties, as well as the firm behind the giant Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa venue, MGM Resorts International.

Recent reconciliations:

McDevitt reportedly disclosed that his organization has already reached deals with the owner of the 1,400-room Ocean Casino Resort, Ilitch Holdings Incorporated, as well as Bally’s Corporation, which runs the Bally’s Atlantic City enterprise, that are to see the pair abide by the terms of any contracts subsequently agreed with Caesars Entertainment Incorporated and MGM Resorts International. The union leader purportedly refused to rule out a strike and moreover declared that this latter duo ‘needs to be reminded’ of what can happen as part of an Atlantic City labor dispute.

Pernicious potential:

The Associated Press reported that casinos in Atlantic City are hoping to chalk up a strong summer in order to regain ground lost during the coronavirus pandemic and an associated 14-week closure in 2020. Any industrial action could purportedly harm this effort and potentially lead to the same kind of strike that forced billionaire investor Carl Icahn to close the Trump Taj Mahal venue in 2016 following a row concerning stripped health insurance and pension benefits.

McDevitt reportedly told the Associated Press…

“We’re not threatening anybody but we’re very serious about leveraging whatever we need to leverage to get our members a good contract. The reality is there are very few people at Caesars Entertainment Incorporated and no one at MGM Resorts International that has any kind of institutional knowledge of what a conflict can be like here. They need to know what could be coming.”

Substitute source:

As part of its effort and the Local 54 labor group has reportedly launched a website for Atlantic City visitors at ACTravelAlert.org listing hotels that hold valid union contracts. This domain’s landing page purportedly features a photo of picketers outside of the Trump Taj Mahal property, which was sold to Hard Rock International in March of 2017 and subsequently re-opened as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City.