News

26.3.08



Workers at the Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester W.V. voted on March 25th to authorize a strike and rejected company proposals that failed to secure living wages or affordable health care for more than 200 workers. The workers are represented by UFCW Local 23. In two overwhelming votes, workers rejected the company's final offer and authorized a strike.



Local 23 leadership has been meeting with the company for months in an attempt to reach a fair agreement by the March 1, 2008 contract expiration date. Workers have been covered by an extension for the past two and a half weeks. Even with the assistance of federal mediator Fulton Miklos, talks ended without a resolution to important worksite issues.



Basic quality of life issues are at stake in this fight. The regional gaming company is lagging behind competitors in wages and benefits. Through this strike vote, workers at the Mountaineer Resort have made their voices heard loud and clear: we are ready to fight for wages that can support our families and health care we can afford.



Some union members working in the video lottery department at Mountaineer find themselves nearly $2.00 per hour behind the contract rates of the union members employed by Wheeling Island Racetrack, located in Wheeling W.V., also Local 23 members.

"You know that it is time for a drastic improvement when our members are earning wages that qualify them for food stamps, the school lunch program, energy assistance and the children’s health insurance program" said Tony Helfer, UFCW Local23 Secretary- Treasurer. "We were all told that the gaming industry was going to provide good family sustaining jobs for West Virginia, it looks like the opposite has occurred."



http://www.ufcw23.org/news.cfm?id=80