June 26, 2015
By LaborPress
More than 300 people, some coming from as far as New Orleans and Mississippi, demonstrated June 22 outside the Ameristar Casino Hotel in East Chicago, Indiana, to protest cuts to union workers’ health insurance there.
Pinnacle Entertainment, which bought the casino in 2013, eliminated Unite Here Local 1’s health plan on May 1 and imposed its own, which requires workers to pay more and doesn’t cover chronic diseases such as diabetes. "We're all angry that this was forced upon us, and we're fighting to keep this standard," said bartender Natalie Mijares. "We don't want to have to choose between taking our kids or ourselves to the emergency room or urgent care and paying our bills.” The about 200 cleaners, servers, and bartenders Local 1 represents have been working under an expired contract since late 2012. Read more
