The Facts about the Mountaineer Strike
For Immediate Release: April 1, 2008
Contact: Kevin Kilroy 724-514-3228
THE FACTS ABOUT THE MOUNTAINEER STRIKE
(Canonsburg, Pa.) – Workers at the Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester, WV were forced to picket lines early Saturday morning because Mountaineer Gaming Company refuses to negotiate living wages or affordable health care for its 200 workers.
The United Food and Commercial Worker (UFCW) Local 23 represents the Mountaineer workers and is frustrated that Mountaineer Gaming CEO Ted Arneault has made misleading public statements about the bargaining process. The fact is, Arneault has been unwilling to negotiate a fair agreement with his workers. The UFCW is willing to meet any time. Either party, the UFCW or the company, can ask the federal mediator to schedule negotiations.
The picket lines at the facility are strong and patrons have shown an outpouring of support. Many customers are taking their business to the Wheeling Island Casino in West Virginia or the Meadowlands Racetrack in Pennsylvania.
“Mr. Arneault said that he would like the striking employees ‘to return to the Mountaineer family.’ Where I come from, family means taking care of one another. What kind of family denies people affordable health care and pays people wages that can’t cover the bills?” said Ron Lenhart, UFCW Local 23 President.
The gaming industry is supposed to provide family-sustaining jobs for West Virginia workers, yet basic quality-of-life issues are at stake. Mountaineer already lags behind their competitors in wages and benefits. Now the greedy company wants workers to:
Pay nearly twice as much for their health care as managers pay—for the same plan! Casino workers pay 31% of their total health care cost while managers pay only 18%. Casino workers earn between $6.50 and $13.00 per hour while managers earn six-figure salaries. At that cost, many workers can’t afford company health care and many are forced to enroll their children in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Some risk going without health care altogether.
Accept pay rates that put them far below the industry standard in our area. The company wants workers to accept pay rates $1 or $2 dollars per hour less than workers employed by nearby Wheeling Island Racetrack, depending on the job.
“We are ready to bargain a fair contract,” said Jo Ann Niemeyer, a UFCW Local 23 member. “The company is making buckets of money, especially with the poker and gaming table revenue coming in. We were given empty promises about great paying jobs that never came. After I pay my health care and other bills, I am left with $12 dollars a week to spend. This is no way to live.”
“The company keeps saying that times are tough for the gaming industry,” said Tony Helfer, UFCW Local 23 Secretary-Treasurer. “Yet they brag that they are taking in record amounts of cash since the strike began. Mountaineer’s CEO, CFO, and VP all have contracts that guarantee pay, cost of living increases, paid vacation, health insurance, and fringe benefits. Workers want the security of a contract too—a contract that guarantees living wages and affordable health care to support their families.”
CEO Facts:
CEO Edson Arneault’s 2-year contract guarantees a salary of $1,140,000; a semi-annual bonus of $50,000; an annual performance bonus equivalent to a minimum of 75% of the annual salary and up to 200% of the annual base salary; (based on the achievement of certain performance criteria as approved by the Board of Directors) the payment of health insurance; other employee benefits and certain fringe benefits; the non-exclusive option to purchase a company owned residence.
CFO John W. Bittner, Jr’s 2-year contract guarantees an annual base salary of $257,900.
VP Patrick J. Arneault’s 2-year contract guarantees an annual base salary of $352,000.
Both of these executives also enjoy annual cost of living increases and additional compensation of $7,200 annually for automobile expenses, four weeks of paid vacation, and benefits and fringe benefits made available to other executives of the company.
EVP David Hughes earns $335,225 per year.
Background:
The workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 23. UFCW leaders and workers have 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 resolution to important worksite issues. On March 25th, workers overwhelmingly rejected the company’s final offer and authorized a strike.
UFCW Local 23 represents more than 14,000 workers in western and central Pennsylvania, parts of Ohio and West Virginia. www.ufcw23.org
http://www.ufcw23.org/news.cfm?id=81