Unionized workers at Encore Boston Harbor reached a preliminary contract agreement with the casino late Wednesday night, averting a strike that was set to start on Saturday.
The new contract covers about 1,400 casino and hotel employees, including bartenders, cooks, front desk agents, baggage and door attendants, as well as the employees who clean hotel rooms and public areas.
"It's an extraordinary agreement that, you know, I'd say not just meets but exceeds the standards that we have across the market," said Carlos Aramayo, president of Unite Here Local 26, the union representing the Encore workers.
"It was hard bargaining," Aramayo said. "People were really thoughtful. They were really intense about it. But people were ecstatic when we got to the conclusion, because not only did we achieve what we set out to achieve in terms of wages and benefits, but in terms of work rules and job security issues ... we got where we feel we needed to be."
In a written statement, a spokesperson for Encore said the agreement fulfills the company's goal of providing among the highest level of benefits and compensation in the state's hospitality industry.
"Our achievement of this goal reflects our commitment to ensuring Encore Boston Harbor is one of the region's best places to work," the statement said. "We look forward to ratification of our agreement soon."
Union workers will vote Friday on whether to ratify the agreement.
The casino opened four years ago, and workers said their initial contract, which expired in April, was weaker than other hospitality contracts in the city.
"Obviously, we expected in our first contract to negotiate, to be on the same level with everybody else, but it didn't happen because of we were negotiating during the pandemic," said Ava Wade, who works as a cocktail server at the casino.
"We did take a two-year contract at the time to make sure that it was kind of a temporary situation that we could get through COVID, and then get the wages in this contract," Wade said. "Which we did."
As a cocktail server, Wade made $8.11 an hour, before tips, she said. "But the other servers in the city were making $14.11 ... So, we were $6 behind."
Wade said it wasn't just Encore's cocktail servers who were being paid less than the industry standard in the city. So-called "back of house" positions like housekeepers were making $25 an hour, compared to $28 an hour at Boston hotels, she said.
With the new contract, Wade said, Encore employees' compensation will now be on par with other hotels in the city.
Additionally, the lower pay made it difficult for employees to afford to live in the area, Wade said.
"Honestly, the casino made the cost of living higher in Everett," she said. "You know, you've seen rent here skyrocket to prices no one had ever seen before the casino. So, you know, locals had to move away — including locals that got a job here — an hour-plus away. So, the commute was very hard for them. And a lot of people had second or even third jobs."
Another key issue for workers, she added, was a point system in which employees were fired for being late or missing work.
"We were just losing tons and tons of people to attendance infractions for things like car accidents [or] getting stuck in traffic. You know, the points were just racking up," she said, adding that workers who relied on public transit also faced major delays and, thus, penalties.
The points system was not abandoned in the new contract, as Wade says she had hoped. But it was made more generous for workers.
Wade said she expects the agreement to be ratified on Friday.
"Everyone's talking about it," she said. "People are just like, 'when can I go and vote for the contract? When are we going to get the copy of the contract so I can read it?' People are really excited."
