Friday, March 14th, 2025
As of today, the contract at Caesars Southern Indiana covering members of Teamsters Local 89 and Operating Engineers Local 399 has expired.
For the past twenty years, Local 89 and Local 399 were part of a larger council of unions that shared the same contract. Unfortunately, due to the problematic way that council was set up, our members voices were often drowned out, and contracts were settled long before our Locals or our members were satisfied. That has now changed, and we are finally in control of our own destinies.
Over the last three months our Agents and Bargaining Committee have been working tirelessly to win a contract our members at Caesars can be proud of. As a result, we have made significant progress on non-economic and some economic items, and our members have been more engaged in this righteous fight than ever before. Just this week, members organized nearly a quarter of the bargaining unit to march to the General Manager’s office to air their frustration and demand a fair contract.
But even with that momentum, we remain far apart from the Company on extremely important issues such as annual raises, starting rates and retirement security. We are fighting to overcome decades of underwhelming agreements against a company that loudly claims to be a generous pillar of Southern Indiana, all while paying poverty wages and funneling millions of dollars out of our community and back to their owners, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), in North Carolina.
While Caesars Southern Indiana and the EBCI publicly touts what they give back to our community through various charitable endeavors, they remain silent on the fact that many of their own employees wind up in line at the very food banks that Caesars funds.
Caesars Southern Indiana and the EBCI are not benevolent, and they are not generous. Their entire business model is designed around draining money from our community, paying as little as possible to their employees, and using their immense profits to line the pockets of the EBCI who are using that money to purchase and build more casinos elsewhere. While the EBCI builds their casino empire using money fleeced from our community, their underpaid employees struggle to provide basic needs for their families, and this cannot be allowed to continue.
At this time, we are not calling for any direct action against Caesars Southern Indiana or their Eastern Band of Cherokee owners, and our members are continuing to report to work where they are still providing the excellent service they always have. Additional bargaining dates are set for next week, and it is our sincere hope that the EBCI does the right thing and gives our members a fair contract.
But make no mistake, Local 89 and our members are continuing to gear up to win this fight. If the EBCI chooses to keep balking at our members for having the audacity to demand a living wage and a path to retire with dignity, then we and our members are prepared to do whatever it takes to make them see the error of their ways.
Stay tuned.
