Atlantic City casinos, union compromise on subcontracting

John Curran

Monday, Sept. 20, 1999 | 10:53 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Gamblers who've had to put up with unmade beds, rookie waiters and closed restaurants in casino-hotels finally got some good luck Friday.

A three-day strike was settled, clearing the way for thousands of cooks, bartenders, housekeepers, valet car parkers, banquet waiters and others to go back to work beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

The walkout had come in the midst of one of the busiest weeks of the year in Atlantic City.

The 79th annual Miss America Pageant was Saturday, and its contestants -- like others staying in the nine casinos -- had been forced to endure spartan accommodations once the union hit the picket lines Tuesday night. (Three of the city's 12 casinos had reached an agreement with the union by then.)

The slot machines, roulette wheels and craps tables remained open, but restaurants and bars closed, housekeeping services were curtailed and room service discontinued. Administrative and clerical personnel filled in as waiters, dishwashers and cooks.

"We're very, very happy it's been resolved," said Francis McCarthy, executive vice president of finance for Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which runs three casino-hotels.

The 14,000-member Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International (Culinary Union) reached a tentative, five-year agreement with the casinos during secret negotiations overnight.

The central issue was the casinos' use of non-union subcontractors to operate some restaurants and bars. Among them: Planet Hollywood at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino, the Hard Rock Cafe and the Official All-Star Cafe at Trump Taj Mahal, and Hooters at Tropicana Casino Resort.

Under the new agreement, subcontracted restaurant outlets in the casinos can remain non-union and any new operations that come in can still be subcontracted. But workers who would have lost jobs under the old pact would have them protected under the new one, according to union President Bob McDevitt.