Mountaineer Racetrack Casino Worker Strike ContinuesPOSTED: 7:56 am EDT March 26,
2008 CHESTER, WV -- Casino workers at West Virginia's Mountaineer Racetrack, Resort and Casino were still on strike Monday morning.The strike began just after midnight on Saturday.About 200 workers affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union walked off the job.The workers involved are cashiers, video lottery clerks and other floor attendants.The union authorized the strike on March 18, saying things need to change fast.According to the union, 90 percent of the membership voted to reject the latest contract offer from the casino.Union officials said the main issue is salary. Some employees make so little that they qualify for food stamps, the school lunch program and energy assistance.The lead negotiator for the casino said the union has every right to strike, but the casino will stay open for business as usual.The issue is just how smoothly the resort can run if there's a strike."The members are very adamant that this is the time to do this and to try to wake the company up and bring them back to the bargaining table and give them a reasonable contract," said union secretary-treasurer Tony Helfer.The main sticking points are benefits and salary. In fact, the union said, a lot of their members are paid so little that they qualify for food stamps."Our people just want to be treated with dignity and respect and to be able to provide for their families," said Helfer. "With these wages and benefits being totally out of reach, being totally unaffordable, we're asking the employer to share some of the profits."But the attorney for the resort said the money is just not there to give. In a phone interview, Marshall Berman said, "We recognize the employees need more. But they need to recognize these are tough economic times and we can't always provide the salaries we'd like to provide."The union believes the casino will struggle to serve its customers with hundreds of employees off the job, but Berman disagrees."We will be covering that work with supervisors, managers and others who have done those jobs in the past. It will be business as usual," he said.At this point, there are no negotiating sessions scheduled. Related Links: More County NewsGet RSS | E-Mail Alerts Copyright 2008 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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