Detroit Casino Union Workers Take Cuts

MGM workers approve contract
Contract gives larger bonus but may hike health care costs
Jaclyn Trop/ The Detroit News

MGM Grand Detroit workers approved a new four-year contract with the casino Friday night after overwhelmingly rejecting a proposed agreement last week.

The workers ratified the contract with 73 percent voting "yes," Teamsters Local 372 spokesman Shawn Ellis said in an email.

For two days, workers at Detroit's largest casino have debated the new proposal, including on the Facebook page of UAW Local 7777, which represents dealers and slot technicians. At least two employees said online that the proposal should be approved, while others argued that the second contract is no better than the one they voted down.

MGM and the five-union Detroit Casino Council — which includes UNITE HERE and Teamsters Local 372 — reached the agreement Wednesday. The new contract, which covers more than 2,000 employees, gives workers a larger bonus payout but imposes potentially higher health care costs on many employees, workers said on the UAW Facebook page.

The proposal includes a total of $4,000 in bonuses and a 2 percent raise in the final year of the contract. A health care deductible of $250 per person and $500 per family from the rejected contract proposal has been eliminated, but monthly health care premium payments are higher.

MGM workers overwhelmingly rejected the prior four-year proposal that included $3,500 in bonuses and a 2 percent raise in the final year. It also called for increased employee contributions for health care, including a higher co-payment for emergency room care that some argued would cost more than the bonuses and raise.

Contracts with the Greektown Casino Hotel and the MotorCity Casino Hotel earlier were each approved by at least 70 percent of their unionized workers.

While some MGM workers argue that the casino makes enough money to afford a richer contract, Michigan gaming consultant Jake Miklojcik, a former Greektown board member, has contended MGM and the other two casinos are being weighed down by the debt they incurred by building new required casinos and hotels.

There has never been a strike at Detroit's casinos since they began opening in 1999.