Wynn Resorts pocketed $2.22 billion in profit last year. Their Encore casino in Boston cleared $237 million on its own. CEO Craig Billings collected $24 million in compensation. And last week, 1,350 housekeepers, cooks, valet drivers, and cashiers walked out because the company decided a $10-an-hour raise spread over three years was asking too much. Three dollars and thirty-three cents a year. Then the company offered to fund their healthcare coverage out of that raise — so the raise just pays for what they already had. A $24-million man looked at his $237-million casino and told the people who clean the rooms that $3.33 was the line.
The casino stayed open through Labor Day weekend. Management worked the floor while the picket line went up outside a building that cost $2.6 billion to build. Ninety-seven percent of the workers voted to strike. You don’t get 97 percent on anything unless the insult is unanimous. Wynn’s statement said they made “continued efforts to reach an agreement.” They haven’t scheduled a bargaining session since the walkout. Continued effort with no follow-up date is a press release, not a position. The house always wins — they just stopped pretending the workers were ever playing.