NO END IN SIGHT AT CAESARS
Strike ripples across local economy
Visitors are staying away from Windsor with its primary attraction — Caesars Windsor — closed for business.
“Being our No. 1 attraction, it has affected their decisions on whether to come,” said Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island. “Caesars is a trip motivator — whether it’s crossing an international border, a drive down the (Highway) 401 or flight into the airport.”
With the casino, hotel and entertainment venue shut down for the 47th straight day on Tuesday due to the ongoing strike by 2,300 members of Unifor Local 444, a “spinoff impact” is being felt by many area restaurants, wineries and even Devonshire Mall because of fewer of out-of-town visitors, Orr said.
“It’s difficult to estimate (the financial impact), but tourism is an economic generator and job creator,” he said. “You also have 2,300 employees right now with no income. They are not spending with staycations or anything else right now.
“This is not just about the casino’s patrons, but also employees and their families who are not going to restaurants or spending right now.”
Initially, many local hotels did see a “spike” of business because there was immediate need for guest rooms in Windsor due to the sudden closure of the casino’s 758 hotel rooms, Orr said. “But now they are starting to lose that traffic,” he said. Although overall business remains strong, Devonshire Mall’s retailers have felt an impact both from the loss of shopping by casino employees and out-of-town visitors who would have stayed at Caesars if not for the strike, said Chris Savard, the mall’s general manager.
“It’s very tough to quantify, but obviously like everybody else in the community we want to see this resolved and move forward,” he said. “Our sales have been solid, but we would like to see this settled, for sure.”
The mall, fully owned since 2015 by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOPP), is in the midst of putting the final touches on a $70-million renovation. The first phase — opening of the new food court — will occur June 27. The improvements, which will be fully completed by the end of this year, include a new Shoppers Drug Mart, Metro store, Mandarin restaurant, plus roughly 25 additional storefronts, along with new flooring and ceilings, Savard said. “Anecdotally, out-of-town visitors are very important piece for us,” he said. “Like everybody, we want to see (casino employees) back to work.” Windsor’s casino strike situation is extremely rare in the gaming industry anywhere in North America, said Howard Stutz, executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports, a casino industry insider newsletter. The only notable exception is the Frontier Hotel and Casino work stoppage in Las Vegas, which lasted 61/2 years in the 1990s when workers remained in a dispute with a family-owned resort. It concluded in February 1998, after the owners agreed to sell the business.
Unlike Windsor’s casino, nearly all casinos elsewhere have a workforce split up among a handful of unions, he said.
Most casino hotel and restaurant employees have separate contracts and different union representation than dealers or others working on gaming floors, Stutz said.
So an entire casino, hotel and entertainment venue never fully closes if a strike occurs. “A business never shuts down, but things do get slowed down,” he said. “Many customers will decide to stay away and not cross a picket line.”
But with so much revenue at stake, casino strikes elsewhere nearly always wrap up at most “in a couple weeks,” Stutz said. He described Windsor’s casino strike situation as “significant” and believes a lot of business will have been lost whenever the end occurs. “You will lose customers, especially when it’s an easy drive to the Detroit properties,” Stutz said. “(Caesars) is going to have to rebuild their business once they reopen.
“They will need to do a lot of marketing and promotions. They will need to really work hard to get that business back.”
Casino management said Tuesday there were no updates on the work stoppage.
“At this time, Caesars Windsor is not making any further comment concerning the labour disruption,” said Jhoan Baluyot, the casino’s public relations manager. Ontario’s finance ministry oversees the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, which includes Caesars Windsor.
There remain no plans to intervene in the work stoppage, a ministry spokesman said Tuesday. “The Ministry of Finance is aware the union membership at Caesars Windsor’s rejected a tentative agreement,” said the ministry’s Scott Blodgett.
“The ministry is supportive of a positive resolution as soon as possible.”