EVERETT, Mass. — Chanting “25, on strike! 26, on strike!” over 200 workers picketed Sept. 5 at the entrance to the Encore Boston Harbor, a hotel and casino here. The chant referred to the two unions — UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 — that organize 1,300 employees at Encore, who walked out the day before. They include slot attendants, servers, cooks, limo drivers, housekeepers, groundskeepers and more. The spirited picket line drew honks of support from passing cars.
Keenan Green, a picket captain and Local 26 shop steward, told the Militant workers are seeking parity with the wages and benefits of other unionized hotel workers in Boston.
To catch up and deal with the ravages of inflation, the casino workers are seeking a $10-an-hour increase for nontipped workers and $5 an hour for tipped workers over three years. And they’re seeking to protect health benefits won in the last contract. “I feel very optimistic about this fight,” Green said.
A vocal contingent of Encore strikers got a good response from the thousands of fellow workers marching in Boston’s Labor Day action Sept. 7.