Unionized service workers at Encore Boston Harbor held a strike authorization vote Wednesday, raising the potential that more than 1,400 employees could soon picket as they seek out a new contract with casino management.
The workers, covered by the UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25, range from cocktail servers to bar porters and drivers to room attendants. Their first contract with the casino expired in April, and the head of UNITE HERE Local 26 said the union has been negotiating a second contract since February.
The unions’ demands are “very modest,” said 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 told 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 said vote results and a strike deadline would be made public early Thursday morning.
Wynn Resorts spokesperson Michael Weaver said Encore has been “actively bargaining in good faith” with both 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 said in a statement.
Voting was scheduled to take place between 7 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Teamsters Local 25 headquarters in Charlestown. If the majority of workers approve the strike authorization, the two unions have threatened to staff picket lines for “24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
UNITE HERE Local 26 said delivery drivers with the Teamsters have pledged not to cross any picket line to deliver liquor, food, or other “essential items” to the casino.
This would not be the first time UNITE HERE Local 26 has organized a hospitality-related strike. Union members held a 46-day strike outside Marriott hotels in 2018 and a 79-day strike at the Battery Wharf Hotel in 2019.
Workers at the Bally’s Twin River Casino in Rhode Island voted to authorize a strike in June 2022 but held off after a tentative agreement was reached with management.
Speaking to the Herald by phone on Tuesday, Aramayo said he was confident that Encore workers would approve the strike authorization.
“Nobody wants to go on strike,” Aramayo said. “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.”