April 30, 2015
Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. Photo by Stephen J. Serio
The union that wants to organize workers at the Rivers Casino is staging a protest outside the Des Plaines gambling hall this afternoon, saying the casino is obstructing its campaign.
More than 100 hotel and casino workers—at Rivers Casino and others who work in casinos controlled by Chicago billionaire real estate investor Neil Bluhm in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia—are expected to line the road to Rivers Casino from 3 to 5:30 p.m. today, Unite Here Local 1 said in a statement.
The union, which represents about 15,000 hotel and hospitality workers in the Chicago area and northwest Indiana, said Bluhm's casino company, Rush Street Gaming, recently pledged to abide by a fair process for unionization at a casino planned in Schenectady, N.Y., but has not agreed to the same process in Des Plaines. There also were recent protests at the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh casinos, the union said.
Unite Here launched efforts to unionize Rivers Casino in late 2013, when it filed 31 charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board against Bluhm's firm.
Those charges were settled in May 2014, with Bluhm's company agreeing to post notices saying employees may choose to organize and join a union under federal law. Rivers Casino admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.
‘ANTI-UNION STATEMENTS MADE’
But Unite Here spokesman Joe Shansky said Rush Street has never committed to a fair process in which workers can organize free of harassment and intimidation.
“There's been anti-union statements made by supervisors and managers to workers who are organizing, and to their co-workers,” Shansky said.
Rivers spokesman Dennis Culloton said the casino has never stood in the way of unionizing efforts.
“Rivers Casino is proud to have been voted one of Chicagoland's 'Best Places to Work' by our team members in a local media survey four years in a row, and we respect their rights to choose whether they want to be represented by a union,” he said in a statement. “So far, the majority of our team members have chosen to remain independent.”
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