Detroit Evening Report: Strike ends for MotorCity, Hollywood casino workers

Workers represented by the Detroit Casino Council have ratified a new contract agreement with Hollywood and MotorCity casinos, ending the 34-day strike at both properties.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

MGM Grand Casino union employees rejected the proposal and will remain on strike until a new agreement is made. 

The five-year contract with MotorCity and Hollywood, which affects 2,100 employees, will include the largest wage increases ever negotiated in the Detroit casino industry’s 23-year history, no health care cost increases for employees, workload reductions, first-ever technology contract language and more. Upon ratification, workers will receive an immediate $3 an hour raise (average 18% wage increase in year one) and $5 an hour total raises over the life of the contract.

Membership at each casino property voted separately about whether to accept the deal.

“We fought to defend our healthcare and win historic wages, and we won,” said Terri Sykes, a dealer at MotorCity Casino for 24 years and president of UAW Local 7777, one of the five unions represented by the Detroit Casino Council, in a statement. “As a two-time breast-cancer survivor, I feel relieved knowing we have protected our healthcare with no increased costs. We stood strong — five unions united — showing it’s possible to win big when workers do brave things and stick together.”

WDET’s Russell McNamara contributed to this report.

Other headlines for Monday, Nov. 20, 2023:

• November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. Alzheimer’s activist Rebecca Chopp is working to build networks in local communities to raise awareness about the disease, which affects about 6.7 million older adults 65 and up.
• Sephora and Fifteen Percent Pledge are teaming up to give away $100,000 to a Black business owner to help spur Black entrepreneurship.
• Mayor Mike Duggan, City Council members and community leaders today announced the selection of nine finalists as solar array host neighborhoods.
• The Sepia Coffee Project has been awarded a $10,000 Torani Café Opportunity Fund grant to build a new roasting facility in Highland Park.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.