“Making the decision to strike is never easy, but it’s past time for the workers who keep Detroit’s casinos running to get their fair share,” said Nia Winston, President of UNITE HERE Local 24, the union of hospitality workers in Detroit, in a written statement issued Tuesday. The Detroit Casino Council had previously agreed in September 2020 to a three-year contract extension, which included 3 percent wage increases. Union members say that management failed to meet demands including protecting healthcare, job security as it relates to the use of new technologies that have been implemented in casinos that could impact job security, improving the value of retirement benefits, reducing the high workloads that were taken on when the local industry’s workforce shrank by 1,500 after the pandemic, and securing wage increases to make up for raises sacrificed during the global health crisis.

Union members worked all night Monday in an attempt to avert a strike, but late Tuesday morning, the unions rejected the casinos’ final proposal. Negotiations with management fell apart just hours before contracts were set to expire on Tuesday. Last month, 99 percent of union members voted in favor of authorizing a strike if an agreement could not be reached by the expiration of the current contract.

The negotiating committee for the council - a cohort made up of members of UNITE HERE Local 24, the United Auto Workers, Teamsters Local 1038, Operating Engineers Local 324, and the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters - has spent more than 160 hours in negotiations since summer. About 3,700 workers employed in food and beverage, dealing, housekeeping, valet, and other fields at Detroit’s three casinos have gone on strike today to fight for wage and benefits improvements following what they call years of sacrifices made to help the industry stay afloat during the pandemic.Įmployees from MGM Grand Detroit, Hollywood at Greektown (formerly Greektown Casino-Hotel), and MotorCity Casino began picketing outside of each site at noon, according to a media alert issued Tuesday by the Detroit Casino Council.

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