Unions that represents many of the workers at the MGM Springfield casino in Massachusetts have asked the company to extend health benefits of furloughed employees beyond the August 31 date MGM Resorts International previously committed to.
Unite Here, which represents 600 casino employees, has asked MGM to extend health benefits until the end of the year.
So has Teamsters Local 404, which represents 70 workers.
The MGM Springfield reopened July 13 after being closed four months by the Covid-19 pandemic. About 700 of the 2,004 employees it had at the end of last year returned to work. It is operating with 819 slot machines and 90 tables—a third of its regular complement.
Negotiations between the local union and MGM are continuing, Ethan Snow, chief of staff of the New England Joint Board of the union told the Republican. He said, “Part of it is based on how quickly they are able to recall people. We are hoping that number of recalled employees increases to the point where we don’t even have to think about this. But it is something in the back of our minds.”
Snow said he is optimistic at the pace workers are returning. “It seems like every day is more and more,” he said. “We are hoping that’s a good sign.”
The MGM Emergency Grant Fund helps support workers who are laid off or furloughed. The MGM Resorts Foundation has raised more than $7 million to support this fund and so far the fund has disbursed more than $10 million in payments.
Recently the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which regulates all casinos in the state, sent regulators to see if the casinos were rigorously enforcing the requirement that patrons and employees wear masks at all times (except when eating or drinking.)
Although some casinos in other states have reported resisting this mandate, that doesn’t seem to be the case in the Bay State, where customers are obeying without too many complaints.
At the MGM, all employees remind patrons to not only wear the masks but to cover their mouth and nose as well.
Bruce Band, assistant director and gaming agents chief for the MGC reported to the panel July 16 in a virtual meeting, “The problems are what would be expected with something that was new to the public.”
The MGC meeting was the first since the MGM, the Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park slots parlor reopened.
All operate under the same protocols that include no poker or roulette, reduced slots, Plexiglass barriers and no wandering with a drink in hand.
One concern operators had was that the barriers might interfere with the games or block surveillance cameras. That has not been the case, reported Burke Cain, who works for the commission’s enforcement bureau.
In addition, the MGM is sanitizing chips and returning them to service after each player cashes out.
Cain had been concerned that MGM’s more open casino floor might make it harder to control entrance and egress, however the casino directs everyone to enter at the valet parking area.
In a separate but related development, the city of West Springfield has asked the MGC Commission for $200,000 in casino mitigation funds to help pay for an increase in police calls and car accidents in the first year since the MGM Springfield opened.
The MGC maintains a Community Mitigation Fund for just this sort of contingency. The town says police calls increased 15.5 percent and car accidents increased 24 percent during that first year.
The city previously requested and was approved a grant of $1 million to help fund a bicycling and walking path to help accommodate an increase in traffic since the casino opened.
The city also receives an annual payment of $375,000 from the casino as a mitigation, which all goes toward public safety costs.
