Baltimore Unions Call on Casino Developers to Create Good Union Jobs
Friday, March 29, 2013(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
"It was a mess from the beginning," says Baltimore Building and
Construction Trades Council president Rod Easter of the Horseshoe Casino project
that will be built along Russell Street, near M&T Stadium and Camden Yards,
in Baltimore. Despite members of a host of unions having worked together in 2012
to get a ballot question passed that opened the door for Caesars and Whiting
Turner to build the casino, initial plans for the project were to build it
non-union. "We worked hard," said Easter of the ballot initiative campaign. "At
some point in time you've got to get some rewards for your work." Washington
Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Vance
Ayres agrees that building the casino union is crucial, not just for the unions
but for the quality of the project. "The casino should be built under a PLA
(Project Labor Agreement)," he said. "That way, you know it’s going to be
built on time and on budget by craftsmen who have the skills and the knowledge
to do what needs to be done right." UNITE HERE Local 7 president Roxie Herbekian
is also concerned that the casino's developers have not committed to the jobs in
the casino being good union jobs once it’s built. "This model, where large
companies receive public benefits and subsidies and yet do not provide good jobs
is a failed development model,” Herbekian says. “We need a fair development
model that's focused on what working people need." Discussions with the
casino’s developers are still in progress, and an agreement is still possible,
said Easter. "We've worked hard to get to a point now where we are getting some
type of cooperation" with Caesars and Whiting Turner.
-- Mariya
Strauss; top right photo: at an August 2012 building trades press conference in
Annapolis supporting the gaming bill; photo courtesy Iron Workers 5