Portside

As city police hauled away about two dozen of his casino union brethren in handcuffs at a mass protest last week, longtime Trump Taj Mahal bartender Al Messina couldn't help but wonder aloud:Is this what 24 years comes down to? What happened to the bond between the casino industry and its workers?

Under the settlement, these workers, who were supported by the hospitality union Unite Here, also will receive preference in hiring at future Boston-area Hyatt hotels, although many said they would be reluctant to return to a Hyatt unless it is unionized. Nationwide, about a quarter of Hyatt hotels have a union presence, and Marc Ellin, senior vice president at Hyatt, said future Hyatts in Greater Boston “could involve union representation

UNITE HERE and the Teamsters have been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino in New Orleans for the last six months that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy.

After months of activism by Sodexo employees, the company has decided to change the way it calculates hours for full-time jobs and allow several thousand workers back on the company health care plan.

One detail Deutsche Bank didn’t account for when it opened The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino: a labor dispute that has reached from Nevada into the bank’s dealings with the Federal Reserve in Washington.

More than 1,000 members of Culinary Union Local 226 (UNITE HERE) picketed downtown Las Vegas on Saturday, April 12. Contracts covering 10 downtown casinos are expired, as well as Brady Laundry. Major Strip casinos, including those owned by MGM Resorts and Caesar's, were settled in recent months. In addition to picketing, workers queued up from 8am until 7pm to sign up for strike relief benefits and strike picket shifts.

As national Democrats prepare to run against the GOP on income equality issues, a giant union has issued a scathing Obamacare document that could undermine that case. "The Irony of ObamaCare: Making Inequality Worse" is the title of the UNITE HERE document that is soon to be making its way to Capitol Hill.

Members of the largest local of UNITE HERE, Culinary Union local 226, along with Bartenders local 165, voted to approve a five year contract with the largest Strip employer, MGM Resorts. This is the first new contract with the gaming employer since 2007, prior to the recession. The contract includes an economic package that funds the continuation of health benefits and pension. Currently workers pay no monthly premiums for benefits.

Eliseo Medina made a big mistake in tacitly backing SEIU’s raid on its longtime ally and the nation’s most progressive union, Unite HERE. Some believe that and his support for the SEIU- UHW takeover forever tarnished his legacy. But in the big picture Eliseo Medina did as much to advance social and economic justice as anyone of his time. His career was marked by extraordinary dedication to working people, and he never stopped believing in the power of “Si Se Puede”!

If union members at Hyatt hotels in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Chicago vote yes on a proposed contact it will end a four-year campaign. It will also make it easier to organize in new cities.