Union sit-in may draw 5,000

Friday, Oct. 8, 2004 | 9:55 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Up to 5,000 casino-hotel workers and their supporters were planning a sit-in today on an unidentified street near Boardwalk Hall at which dozens plan to be arrested.

The union members plan to meet at 4 p.m. at the Hall and then walk to the undisclosed site for the demonstration, where they will sit in a circle -- chanting and singing -- until police take them away.

Only those who volunteer to be arrested and sign up in advance with union officials will participate in the sit-in element of the demonstration, according to leaders of Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union.

But thousands of others are expected to walk off picket lines at the seven casinos to join the march and demonstration, part of a week-old strike against seven of Atlantic City's 12 casinos.

"We're going to do whatever it takes, including getting arrested, to win," organizer D. Taylor told strikers during a civil disobedience training session Thursday. "These casinos are going to get the message."

Police warned that the event could lead to delays in the area where the expressway enters the city between 3 and 7 p.m.

Casino-bound vehicles should use Routes 30 or 40 or other highways to enter the city, Lt. Michael Tullio said.

"Right now, we don't know what to expect," he said. "That's the busiest area of the city, day and night, no matter what the time of year. If there's going to be activities there and large amounts of pedestrians and other people, it'll be busy."

Nearly half of the vehicles heading into Atlantic City use the expressway, a 44-mile toll road that empties into the middle of the city. Last Friday, about 1,800 cars entered the city from the expressway between 4 and 5 p.m., according to the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates the toll road.

"We don't know what the union's plans are, so we're making various contingencies based on alternatives that might occur," said James Crawford, executive director of the SJTA. "Some might require more overt action than others. But we have people who will be available for us to provide information or traffic control systems, as are needed."

Bus companies have been notified about the demonstration, Crawford said.

About 80 union members gathered at Local 54's hall late Thursday for a briefing on civil disobedience by Taylor, vice president of gaming for parent union UNITE HERE.

He gave a primer on the history of civil disobedience, telling striking workers not to fight police, resist arrest or go limp. Then he led an exercise in which union members assumed the role of police officers, pretending to arrest strikers.

"We're going to be disciplined. We're going to be orderly," said Taylor. "We're not going to struggle. The police are not our foes. The police in this town have been wonderful. Our fight is against the greedy casino owners," said Taylor.

He told strikers they would be handcuffed, processed and ticketed before being released.

The demonstration will also include union members who are not on strike, including Kelly Morrell-Duffy, 45, a cocktail server at Trump Marina who plans to be arrested in a show of support.

"I'm standing up for my beliefs and for my future," said Morrell-Duffy. "It's something I have to do."

About 10,000 bartenders, cocktail servers and other service workers went on strike Oct. 1 in a dispute over health care premiums, job protection and the length of the proposed contract.

Five casinos are unaffected -- Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which signed a three-year deal with Local 54 last week; the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which signed a four-year contract last year before its opening; and the Sands Hotel & Casino, which signed a "me too" agreement in which it agreed to abide by the terms of the first contract Local 54 reached with a casino here this year.