After helping to persuade legislators _ and Hancock County voters _ to allow casino table games at their track, The Associated Press reports that "Some 200 cashiers, slot technicians and money room employees are set to strike at midnight Saturday at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester, in protest of 'poverty wages' that make health care and other basic needs unaffordable."
Track officials are defending their offer to Local 23 of the United Food & Commercial Workers, as the two sides negotiate to replace a contract that expired March 1.
One union official told AP's Vicki Smith that "When West Virginia legislators approved both slot machines and table games, 'the intent was to put money into the coffers of the state of West Virginia.' But many Mountaineer workers are turning to the state for help, relying on the Children's Health Insurance Program, food stamps and other public assistance."
The article also said that "if a strike takes place, the track's attorney says supervisors, managers and other employees will cover for the missing employees."
27 March 2008
In Wake of Table Games, Racetrack Workers Talk Strike
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1 comment:
It sounds like these are not the high-paying jobs promised by the tracks when they were campaigning to become casinos. The employeees should have known this, but apparently even they bought the hype.
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