More than 1,300 workers at the Encore Boston Harbor are officially on strike Friday morning at the resort casino in Everett, Massachusetts.
The workers, part of labor union Unite Here Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25, voted in August to authorize a strike. Their contract with casino owner Wynn Resorts expired on Aug. 31, and according to the union, a new contract has not yet been negotiated.
According to the Teamsters, Encore management refused to come back to the bargaining table and offer any meaningful improvements, even after the strike authorization vote.
Workers had said they'd walk off the job at 7 a.m. Friday unless there was a new contract that delivered better wages, stronger benefits and enhanced protections on the job.
"Encore slow-walked negotiations and played games with our members, and now they’re going to see how big of a mistake that was,” Thomas G. Mari, president of Local 25, said in a statement Friday. "When a company refuses to respect the workers who make its profits possible, we shut it down. The Teamsters don’t cross picket lines and won’t be intimidated.”
“Encore management has pushed our members to the brink because they thought they could take our labor for granted,” Tommy Blitsch, director of the Teamsters convention, trade show, and casino division, said in a statement. “If Encore wants its casino running, it needs the workers who make it run. And the Teamsters are standing up and fighting back.”
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“We make Encore a world-class resort that generates enormous profits because of our hard work,” James Atkins, lead gardener and chief steward at Local 25, added. “We didn’t want to strike but we won’t accept a contract that blatantly disrespects our labor. We’re on the picket line and will stay out as long as it takes to get a fair deal.”
Workers at the Encore Boston Harbor resort casino in Everett, Mass., had said they'd go on strike unless a new contract was negotiated by 7 a.m.
The picket line was very loud Friday morning -- people holding signs, yelling into megaphones, banging on drums, and blowing air horns.
The resort and casino remain open. Replacement workers and non-union workers are on the job.
The president of Unite Here Local 26, Carlos Aramayo, has asked people not to cross their picket line, withholding their business from Encore for now.
"Our demands are a fair wage increase to match the wage increases that we have at the hotels downtown. Two, to maintain our health insurance and our pension. And three, to have some kind of job security at this property,” he said. "We are asking the citizens of Boston and the surrounding area to please not go to the casino during a strike. We're asking people to not cross our picket line, don't come here to gamble, don't come here to eat and drink, please don't cross the picket line until these workers get a fair contract."
Hospitality workers say they want to be paid the same as hotel workers in downtown Boston.
“The difference right now is about three bucks an hour and what we don't understand is how can workers at a five-star casino be making less than workers at the Hampton Inn," said Laura Moye, Local 26 executive vice president.
Union workers say they take pride in their work and want to keep doing it under a new contract.
“We come in every day, and we work very, very hard to make Encore as beautiful as it is. And I'm very proud of that. I like my job, and I love the people I work with. But we need better than what they're offering,” said Encore employee Kathy Woodard, who has been with the casino since it opened and was surprised that things got to this point. "I was hoping that maybe they'd listen to us because people are struggling right now you know? We're trying to make ends meet...We need to do this as a group to make it better for everybody, not just me, not just my coworkers, but every single person on this picket line is having a hard time."
"It's kind of sad that we have to get to this point, you know?" Woodard added. "I was hoping that we could sit down and negotiate, go back and forth, but it didn't happen, it just didn't happen."
Keenan Green, a cook, says workers are prepared to be on the picket line until they get a fair contract.
The Encore Boston Harbor has previously said in a statement that they are committed to finding common ground that is fair, financially sustainable and protects employees in the long-term. They report employees wages outpaced inflation, saying over the past four years, union wages and benefits at Encore grew nearly 40% while revenue grew 2%. NBC10 Boston has reached out again to Encore now that the strike is officially underway.
At this point, there is no meeting scheduled for the two sides to discuss the contract. The unions are hoping this will send a message.