Union Wins Back Pay at Saratoga Casino & Raceway

The sky is suddenly bluer and brighter for the employees at the Saratoga Casino & Raceway—HTC blue that is! That’s because the Union has won back pay for a large group of employees at “the Racino” due to management’s improper allocation of special function gratuities. Some of the key benefits of this agreement are:

● Tipped and non-tipped employees involved in the serving of a special function will be paid a guaranteed percentage amount of special function revenue

● Non-tipped employees involved in the serving of a special function will be paid 100% of all station fees (pasta, carving, etc.).

And, yes, there was more than $10,200 in back pay that was recently distributed to 63 employees as a result of the agreement, which was ratified unanimously by the workers. We should add that recently the Union has also resolved numerous grievances for the Racino employees, such as scheduling out of seniority, payment on holidays for eligible part-time employees, back pay for Garden Buffet servers for improper deduction for guest walkouts and/or shortages, along with various disciplinary issues, just to name a few.

“Since HTC President Peter Ward and the Union’s legal team led by HTC Vice President & General Counsel Richard Maroko negotiated stronger grievance and arbitration language, among other things, in the current CBA, the Union has become stronger and more successful resolving grievances,” said Joseph Messineo, Hotel Trades Council Grievance Manager. Since HTC began representing the employees, the number of employees who want to be delegates and the number of grievances being resolved have drastically increased.

The Union has also negotiated an agreement with management that provides for more opportunities for bartenders and cocktail servers to make more money. This agreement establishes a clear practice and provides for a more structured method of offering available service bartender shifts. This agreement also provides for back pay for certain cocktail servers.

Some of the Racino employees who received back pay are seen here: From left to right are buffet servers Lisa Seelow, Kathleen Kirchner, union delegate Kristin Covey, Terri Carbino and Ryan Ritter.