The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City reached an agreement with the city’s casino union workers on Saturday, overcoming the last of the hurdles for both parties regarding a potential strike. The compromise meant that the casino avoided union unrest over a lucrative and busy holiday weekend.
The Local 54 of the Unite Here union said the deal that had been reached was a ‘tentative’ one but would see the strike planned for 3 July at 12:01 am canceled.
It paved the way for gambling halls to reopen their doors and to focus on recovering losses made during the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw numbers of visitors nosedove. Some of the biggest casinos in Atlantic City - the Borgata, Caesars, Harrah’s and the Tropicana - have all previously settled agreements with the union.
These casinos had avoided strikes planned for 1 July at a sore financial cost: the settlement will cost Caesars alone $1m. This leaves only two casinos - Resorts World and the Golden Nugget - without a contract. However, they are both expected to follow the other casinos’ lead and settle with the union shortly.
Local 54 had seen 96% of its membership vote in favor of the strikes in response to the unextended worker contracts which were due to expire on 30 May next year. The union pressed for substantial wage increases that would match rising prices and the cost of the pandemic on general standards of living.
Hard Rock Chairman Jim Allen said: “We are extremely pleased that we were able to reach a successful settlement with Unite Here Local 54 to increase wages and benefits for our deserving team members.
“We look forward to further expanding this excellent relationship at both the national and local levels as we expand our iconic brand.”
The labor peace provided by this deal is crucial for the third summer of the coronavirus pandemic. Casinos are struggling to return to the revenue and profit levels they enjoyed before it began.
The deals avoided what would have been the city’s first casino strike since 2016. In this year, the union rejected demands by billionaire Carl Icahn, who insisted that the Trump Taj Mahal (as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was then known) would operate without healthcare and pension benefits.
