Autoworkers are still in headlines and on picket lines. Now, Detroit’s casino workers also are on strike. Like their auto industry counterparts, thousands of gaming industry workers are looking to their record-revenue-setting employers for pay increases, better healthcare and retirement provisions, and job security in the age of technology.
The casino workers’ strike commenced yesterday (Oct. 17) after their existing contracts expired, and after “months of full-table negotiations and meetings...failed to result in a deal” with the city’s three casinos—MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Hollywood Casino at Greektown.
“The workers, represented by the Detroit Casino Council (DCC), are seeking contract improvements after years of pandemic hardship, but casino management remains unwilling to deliver a fair contract for workers,” Meghan Cohorst, the communications lead for labor union Unite Here, said in a statement.
Casino of interest: MotorCity Casino
The impact of the strike was already visible as MotorCity updated its website with a series of temporary closures, likely because of the staff walkout. Here’s a list of unavailable services as of early today (Oct. 18):
❌ High Limit table games
❌ First floor slots
❌ For FanDuel Sportsbook, “no wagers will be accepted in person or at the kiosks (please bet using your mobile app)“
❌ Poker Room
❌ Casino Valet
❌ Some restaurants and bars
❌ D.Tour Spa
❌ Lacquer Gift Shop
❌ Hotel Valet
❌ Radio Bar
Detroit casino strikes, by the digits
99%: The vote for a strike authorization on Sept. 30. It “sends a clear message to the Detroit casino cartel that our members are the ones who created massive profits for these corporations, and it’s time to share the wealth,” Teamsters general president Sean M. O’Brien said at the time.
3,700: Number of casino workers striking at the three Detroit casinos, where they are employed as dealers, food and beverage workers, cleaning staff, valets, engineers, and more.
1,500: The reduction in jobs post-pandemic, which has increased the workload for existing employees who struggle to take lunch breaks and holidays, based on anecdotal evidence. As part of contract negotiations, casino workers are seeking reduced workloads.
3%: Raises that Detroit’s casino workers have received since September 2020, while inflation in the city has risen 20%.
8: Years where the value of retirement for casino workers has remained unchanged.
$2.27 billion: Detroit casino industry’s record gaming revenue in 2022. The three Detroit casinos collectively reported.
$813 million: How much total gaming revenues for the three casino operators increased in 2022 versus 2019.
$738,000: City and state tax revenues at risk for each day of a strike, according to a DCC report released Monday. “For the City of Detroit, this wagering tax is a critical source of revenue used to fund job creation, public safety, economic development, and youth development programs,” the labor union said. “In 2022, the wagering tax was the City’s second highest revenue source, even surpassing property taxes.”
$3.4 million: Casino operator revenues at risk for each day of the strike, as per DCC’s calculations.
Quotable: Casino workers are striking in other places, too
“We are fighting from Detroit to Vegas, from Biloxi to Pennsylvania, to raise wages and standards for casino workers. Hospitality workers overall across the US and Canada kept the doors open during the pandemic, risking their health and forgoing raises. Now they are striking in Detroit, Los Angeles and Vancouver, along with hundreds of thousands of other workers from other industries, demanding a share in the prosperity that the hospitality industry is currently experiencing.”
—Gwen Mills, Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE International Union, the union of North American hospitality workers
A non-exhaustive list of other strikes in Michigan
🚗 For more than 32 days, 34,000-plus union members at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis have been on strike. Ford has furloughed nearly 2,500 workers and its executive chairman, Bill Ford—the great grandson of founder Henry Ford—has made desperate pleas for it to be called off.
📋 More than 1,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield workers in Michigan walked off the job on Sept. 13 to protest for better wages, better retirement benefits, the end of multi-tiered pay structures, and a stop to outsourcing at the health insurance provider.
🏥 Close to 250 workers at three nursing homes owned by Optalis Healthcare in metro Detroit—Four Seasons in Westland, Greenfield in Royal Oak, and Fountain Bleu in Livonia—went on strike starting Oct. 10 and 11. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members want their $14 starting hourly wages to be raised by $2.50, but the company is offering a $0.50 increase.