Unionized service staff at Encore Boston Harbor held a strike authorization vote Wednesday, elevating the potential that greater than 1,400 staff might quickly picket as they search out a brand new contract with on line casino administration.
The staff, coated by the UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25, vary from cocktail servers to bar porters and drivers to room attendants. Their first contract with the on line casino expired in April, and the top of UNITE HERE Local 26 mentioned the union has been negotiating a second contract since February.
The unions’ calls for are “very modest,” mentioned UNITE HERE Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo.
“We’re looking to have the same wages, benefits and work rules that exist in other hospitality employers around the Greater Boston area, whether that’s the Ritz Carlton or Courtyard Marriott at North Station,” he instructed the Herald. “We’re not looking for anything more than what other folks who do this kind of work earn in this area and in this region.”
A spokesperson for UNITE HERE Local 26 mentioned vote outcomes and a strike deadline could be made public early Thursday morning.
Wynn Resorts spokesperson Michael Weaver mentioned Encore has been “actively bargaining in good faith” with each unions since early March, with the “goal of providing our employees with competitive wages, benefits and a working environment that reflects our high standards and the experience we strive to create.”
“While we are disappointed that the union is instead moving to hold a strike vote, we have indicated to the union that we remain ready to continue our discussions,” Weaver mentioned in a press release.
Voting was scheduled to happen between 7 a.m. and eight:30 p.m. on Wednesday on the Teamsters Local 25 headquarters in Charlestown. If nearly all of staff approve the strike authorization, the 2 unions have threatened to employees picket traces for “24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
UNITE HERE Local 26 mentioned supply drivers with the Teamsters have pledged to not cross any picket line to ship liquor, meals, or different “essential items” to the on line casino.
This wouldn’t be the primary time UNITE HERE Local 26 has organized a hospitality-related strike. Union members held a 46-day strike outdoors Marriott resorts in 2018 and a 79-day strike on the Battery Wharf Hotel in 2019.
Workers on the Bally’s Twin River Casino in Rhode Island voted to authorize a strike in June 2022 however held off after a tentative settlement was reached with administration.
Speaking to the Herald by cellphone on Tuesday, Aramayo mentioned he was assured that Encore staff would approve the strike authorization.
“Nobody wants to go on strike,” Aramayo mentioned. “But folks are ready and willing to do so if that’s what it’s going to take to bring this company to the finish line here and have them make the same wages and benefits as their siblings across the market.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”