Grace decided to join the rally because he was asked to support opening up a dialogue between casino employees and management about their concerns. “I sort of thought I was going to be there for like a half hour as part of the delegation with a bunch of other faith leaders from the neighborhood and organizers from UNITE HERE,” said Joshua Grace, a pastor at Circle of Hope in Fishtown. Over the winter, the Atlantic City-based union organization, which represents workers at the nearby Harrah’s Chester Casino and ten Atlantic City casinos, held a rally with community leaders in an attempt to stand up for the rights of SugarHouse’s employees who want to unionize. The UNITE HERE pin was worn by protesters standing up for unionization at SugarHouse Casino.
Philly’s first casino is attracting some recent notice because of renewed efforts to unionize its rank-and-file employees with the support of UNITE HERE Philadelphia. While the still-undecided final location of Philadelphia’s second gaming license dominates the local casino conversation, all is not quiet at the renovating SugarHouse.
