Pact With 3% Raise Ends Atlantic City Casino Strike

Union leaders ordered striking casino-hotel employees back to work today after unanimously approving a tentative contract ending a two-day walkout marred by violence on the Boardwalk and in the streets.

The tentative settlement, which still must be ratified by a vote of the full membership, was reached after all-night negotiations between the union and the Atlantic City Casino Assn.

“The only thing I can say is that they have voted to go back to work. The strike is over,” said Roy Silbert, president of Local 54 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union.

‘Judge Ruined Us’

The negotiations began Tuesday night after U.S. District Judge Stanley Brotman ruled the strike illegal and ordered striking bellhops, maids and food service workers back to work.

“That federal judge ruined us,” Silbert said. “We were a hair’s breadth away from getting everything we wanted.”

Silbert said the new contract calls for wage increases of 3% a year for three years and said the casinos dropped demands for a freeze in benefits and for a lower salary scale for new workers.

The union had originally asked for a 15% raise over two years, while management--citing reduced profits--insisted first on a pay cut and then a wage freeze.

“This agreement allows us to walk away with dignity and respect,” Silbert said, “especially since we heard so many times that we are a weak union.”

There were no pickets on the streets Tuesday night as the union leaders were meeting, but at least 42 people were treated at the Atlantic City Medical Center for injuries suffered in strike violence. (Story on Page 21.)