Dive Brief:
- Detroit casino workers reached tentative agreements with the city’s three resort operators — MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino and Hollywood Casino at Greektown — to end strikes at the properties, the Detroit Casino Council and MGM Resorts International shared in releases obtained by Hotel Dive.
- The tentative five-year contract agreement includes an immediate 18% pay raise on average, according to the announcement, as well as workload reductions, first-ever technology contract language, retirement increases and healthcare protections.
- Thousands of unionized Detroit casino workers — including those represented by the nation’s largest hospitality workers union, Unite Here — walked off the job last month over wages they said did not meet the rising cost of living. The tentative agreements in Detroit follow similar deals reached recently in Las Vegas.
Dive Insight:
Resort operators and the Detroit Casino Council, which represents striking workers, will hold a ratification vote “soon,” according to the announcement. Upon the agreement’s ratification, DCC-represented employees will return to work.
The tentative agreement, if ratified, would include a 64-month contract covering the 3,700 unionized casino employees that comprise the DCC, including members of Unite Here Local 24, UAW Local 7777, Teamsters Local 1038, Operating Engineers Local 324 and the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters.
Negotiators did not share exact wage details, but in a statement, Matt Buckley, president and COO of MGM’s Midwest Group, called the pay increases “historic.”
In a release, John Drake, vice president and general manager at Hollywood Casino at Greektown, called the negotiations with the DCC “productive and respectful.”
“We are happy that a mutually beneficial agreement was reached that positively positions our team members and business for success well into the future,” Drake said.
Last week, workers at casino resorts in Las Vegas reached tentative agreements to increase pay. MGM Resorts was also involved in Las Vegas, where its deal with union workers avoided strikes at eight of its properties on the Strip.
Unite Here is still holding multi-wave strikes across several hotels in Southern California, though some hotels have reached agreements with workers to end walkouts on their properties.
