Union plans ‘civil disobedience’ event Friday

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004 | 9:30 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Upping the ante in a 6-day-old walkout, striking casino and hotel workers are planning a "civil disobedience" demonstration Friday.

Members of Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union plan to meet at Boardwalk Hall before walking to an undisclosed site for the event, and spokesman Chris Magoulas would not say what the strikers would do once they got there.

Arrests are possible, he said.

"We're going to be having a march and civil disobedience in Atlantic City because we want to show the industry we are united, that we are completely serious about achieving our goal of keeping middle-class jobs in the casino industry.

"It will be completely peaceful and in the traditions of nonviolent civil disobedience, as Dr. (Martin Luther) King and Mahatma Gandhi taught," Magoulas said.

About 10,000 members of Local 54 are striking seven of Atlantic City's 12 casinos in a dispute over health insurance premiums, subcontracting by casinos and the length of a proposed contract.