Casino union seeks ban of Revel hiring policy

Atlantic City residents could have a chance to vote on whether to ban a controversial hiring practice at its newest casino.

In the latest development in the fight between the new Revel casino and the casino workers union, the union has introduced petitions for a referendum on Revel’s policy of hiring front-line employees for just four- to six-year stints.

Local labor standards policies have been enacted in other cities.

Bob McDevitt, the president of Local 54, said that after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax breaks, Revel should be held to higher standards. “They promised good jobs. They have not delivered good jobs,” McDevitt said.

“We believe, since the city government and the state have not held their feet to the fire, that the citizens of Atlantic City should have a say in whether jobs are created that are worth having and that are worth taxpayer subsidies,” he said.Revel fired back with a statement calling the ordinances a “façade for the union’s campaign against Revel.  Local 54 repeatedly misinforms the residents of Atlantic City, their own union members and other workers in this community.”

A Revel representative attributed the move to “one thing — increasing the monthly revenue for UNITE-HERE Local 54 by increasing dues-paying members.”

Revel is the only one of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos with no unionized employees.