What: Rally for New Contracts at Riverboat Casinos

Who: Riverboat Workers and Representatives of Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor, Steelworkers District 7 and Building & Construction Trades Council of Northwest Indiana.

Where: Harrah’s East Chicago

When: Tuesday, December 14th at 11am

On Tuesday, December 14th, Northwest Indiana riverboat casino workers will hold a rally near Harrah’s East Chicago to gear up for a potential strike next month.

Riverboat workers voted by a 93% margin to authorize a strike if necessary, and recently announced a strike date for the busy Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. The rally will include workers from Harrah’s East Chicago, Majestic Star, Trump, Buffington Harbor Pavilion and Blue Chip Casino.

Riverboat workers will be joined by leaders from the Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor, the Northwest Indiana Building & Construction Trades Council and the United Steelworkers of America, District Seven.

The major unions in Northwest Indiana, representing hundreds of thousands of members, have publicly pledged to boycott the casinos in case of a strike.

Contract goals include fair wages and affordable health care. According to a recent study conducted by Dr. Jane Kiser of Indiana University, 17% of riverboat workers who are parents have no health insurance for their children, and another 24% have enrolled their children on Hoosier Healthwise, Indiana’s public aid program for low-income families.