Hotels
Striking UNITE HERE Casino Workers Reach
Five-Year Settlement With Atlantic City Hotels

UNITE HERE Local 54 Nov. 1 reached tentative agreement on a five-year
contract covering 11,000 workers at seven hotel/casinos in Atlantic
City, N.J., where workers have been on strike since Oct. 1.
Under the tentative contract, covered employees would continue to have
fully paid health care coverage, and limits are placed on the casinos'
practice of leasing space to restaurants and bars staffed with service
workers not represented by a union. The agreement would freeze wages in
the first year and provide no general wage increases over term for
employees with less than eight years of seniority, while long-term
employees would receive two bonus payments followed by wage increases in
the fourth and fifth years.

In agreeing to the tentative five-year contract, UNITE HERE backed off
its demands for a three-year contract that would have aligned the
expiration dates of the contracts with those of other gaming contracts
in Las Vegas and Detroit.

"Given our starting point, we had thought we needed a three-year
contract to reach those goals, but we achieved all that and more during
the course of this strike." Bob McDevitt, president of UNITE HERE Local
54, said in a statement.

Members of UNITE HERE employed at Harrah's Atlantic City, Showboat
Atlantic City, Resorts Atlantic City, Bally's Park Place, Caesars
Atlantic City, Tropicana Casino & Resort, and the Atlantic City Hilton
launched a strike after negotiators failed to reach a contract agreement
at seven of the city's 12 casino/hotels by an extended expiration date
(191 DLR AA-2, 10/4/04). The union represents about 11,000 hotel and
casino workers altogether at the seven properties. The top issues over
which the union and company negotiators disagreed were wages, health
care, subcontracting, and contract duration.

"Obviously, we are very pleased to come to an agreement with the union
leadership," said David Strow, spokesman for Harrah's.

Return to Work Nov. 4 Possible

Local 54's negotiating committee has endorsed the tentative agreement
and is urging members to ratify it. A ratification vote by UNITE HERE
members is planned for Nov. 3 with a return to work Nov. 4 starting at 8
a.m. if members accept the contract, said Al Tabei, a member of the
union's executive board and bargaining committee.
The hotel casinos have remained open throughout the month-long strike,
staffed by management and other workers, including employees from other
company properties outside Atlantic City.

McDevitt said that under terms of the agreement "every single
striker--with no exceptions goes back to work at their same job, shift,
station, and seniority." The contract sets terms for housekeepers,
cooks, food and beverage servers, buspersons, bartenders, porters, bell
caps, and valet parking attendants, but does not cover dealers.

The hotels began to advertise for replacement workers Oct. 20 and have
held job fairs to fill vacancies left by striking workers (208 DLR A-5,
10/28/04).

Bonuses, Wage Increases, Health Care

The agreement would retain the step system for wage progression under
the new agreement, except in the first year when there would be no wage
increases at all. In the second through the fifth years of the
agreement, employees in steps one through seven would not receive
general wage increases, but they would receive step increases. The union
said that prior to the strike the hotel/casinos were proposing to
eliminate the step system for wage progression.
In the second and third years of the contract, workers at the top rate
with at least eight years of seniority, reached after step seven, would
receive a bonus at the end of the contract year on Sept. 15 of 25 cents
times the number of hours worked during that year, Tabei told BNA. The
bonuses would be payable in September 2006 and 2007. Workers at the top
rate would receive a wage increase of 25 cents per hour in both the
third and fourth years of the contract and a wage increase of 30 cents
per hour in the fifth contract year.

"The solidarity and determination of Local 54 members during the strike
led to the major improvements in this tentative settlement, as compared
to the casino's final offer before the strike," McDevitt said. He said
the hotels' proposal before the strike did not protect free full family
health care coverage for five years.

Under the tentative agreement, health care contributions would continue
to be fully paid by the employer throughout the contract, the union
said.

Health care benefits had been one of two reasons the union initially
had sought a three-year contract. In earlier proposals from the company,
after three years health and welfare costs would have been based on
projections that underwriters say are "little more than a wild guess,"
Tabei told BNA.

The proposal's solution is an agreement by the employers to pay
additional payments if needed for health care increases in the fourth
and fifth years, up to a capped amount and subject to binding
arbitration, Tabei said.

Employer payments for health care coverage also would continue when
workers are on vacation, covering all paid hours. Under the previous
contract, health care payments only covered straight-time hours, and
workers paid out-of-pocket payments when they were away from the job.

The union also had earlier sought a three-year contract to coordinate
contract expiration dates with the Borgata Hotel, Casino, and Spa in
Atlantic City and the hotel/casinos in Las Vegas. Union negotiators
decided, however, that having the health care agreement through the
fifth year of the contract made the longer contract term acceptable,
Tabei said.

Limited Subcontracting

The employers' pre-strike proposal also would have provided no
enforceable protection against subcontracting of jobs like housekeeping,
cleaning, and other classifications, McDevitt said. All of the seven
casino hotels have subcontracted restaurants and bars within their
properties as was allowed under the previous contract. The proposed
contract would allow two additional restaurant subcontracts, one at
Resorts and one at Tropicana. At those casinos, the tentative agreement
would guarantee that all union restaurants remain open, said McDevitt.
The settlement also would provide succession protection for workers and
the collective bargaining agreement when a casino changes ownership,
according to a UNITE HERE statement.

Employer contributions to the pension fund would increase 10 cents in
each year of the contract, from the existing 47 cents per hour worked to
57 cents in the first year, 67 cents in the second year, 77 cents in the
third year, 87 cents in the fourth year, and 97 cents per hour worked in
the fifth contract year.

Employees with complications in their immigration status would have six
months under the new agreement to resolve problems and return to the job
without a loss of seniority. After immigration law changed following
Sept. 11, 2001, the 90-day period provided in the previous contract
proved insufficient, Tabei said.

Additionally, the agreement includes language requiring the
hotel/casinos to post job promotion opportunities internally prior to
hiring outside job applicants.

The employers also would administer a new a 401(k) retirement savings
plan under the proposal, with contributions to be funded entirely by
employees.

"Everybody involved wants the same thing--to get back to work as soon
as possible," said Strow.

Representatives for the other casino/hotels declined to comment further
on the tentative agreement.

By Susan Hobbs

HIGHLIGHTS
Striking Workers Settle With Atlantic City Hotels

UNITE HERE Local 54 reaches a tentative agreement on a five-year
contract covering 11,000 workers at seven hotel/casinos in Atlantic
City, N.J., where workers have been on strike since Oct. 1.

Under the tentative contract, covered employees would continue to have
fully paid health care coverage and limits would be placed on the
casinos' practice of leasing space to restaurants and bars staffed with
service workers not represented by a union. The agreement would freeze
wages for the first year and provide no general wage increases over term
for employees with less than eight years of seniority, while long-term
employees would receive two bonus payments followed by wage increases in
the fourth and fifth years.

In accepting the tentative contract, UNITE HERE backed off its demands
for a three-year contract that would have aligned the expiration dates
of the contracts with those of other gaming contracts in Las Vegas and
Detroit.