Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino Stays closed as strike Persists

In Canada, the attack that has closed the Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino is currently allegedly to its 41st day after last month saw 59% of the Ontario venue’s workforce reject a new contract arrangement that would have seen their hourly wages rise by an average of only CAD$1.75 ($1.37) within the course of the next three decades.

Based on a Monday report from the Detroit Free Press newspaper, talks involving the casino owned by the state-run Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation along with the Local 444 chapter of the Unifor trade union resumed yesterday although the Essex County land has canceled all hotel bookings and concerts through to the end of the month.

Dave Cassidy, President for the Local 444 branch of Unifor, allegedly told the newspaper that deal talks have been at a standstill since April 18 with negotiators also at odds within the match’s time-off request system and its own policy of substituting union-run restaurants with non-union companies.

“Hopefully we come away with a fair and equitable agreement,” Cassidy allegedly told the Detroit Free Press.

Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino with its 100,000 sq feet gaming floor opened in 1998 however a similar dispute with its over 2,000 workers reportedly resulted in a 42-day attack in 2004. The majority of staff at the centre run by Las Vegas-based casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corporation currently purportedly earn approximately CAD$17 (US$13.40) each hour while the most recent offer of a 9.4% increase would have observed this rate rise to approximately CAD$20.42 (US$15.93) by the end of 2021.

But, Cassidy allegedly told the newspaper that, in contrast, January saw the minimum hourly wage in Ontario drop by 20% to CAD$14 (US$10.92) while this rate is supposed to hit CAD$15 (US$11.70) early next year.

Cassidy allegedly pointed to the fact that Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino frequently brings in annual revenues of approximately CAD$270 million (US$212 million) and last year paid off the city of Windsor a record ‘hosting fee’ valued at over CAD$10 million (US$7.88 million).

“We hear ‘we aren’t making any money’ however I can tell you [that] you don’t hand out multi-million-dollar checks should you’re not earning any money,” Cassidy allegedly told the newspaper.

The Detroit Free Press reported that the temporary closure of Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino might be a boon for a number of its rivals throughout the river from town of Detroit. Citing official figures from the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the newspaper explained that the downtown MGM Grand Detroit submitted a 3% year-on-year rise in April revenues while the figure to the nearby MotorCity Casino Hotel swelled with a more encouraging 4 percent with all the Greektown Casino Hotel documenting a 0.5% reduction.

“We’ll never know for sure but I really do have a strong suspicion that the closure of Windsor has resulted in more bucks flowing across the boundary,” Alex Calderone, Managing Director for neighborhood boutique financial advisory firm Calderone Advisory Group, supposedly told the Detroit Free Press. “The more that casino has been closed, the better it is for Detroit. ”