1,300 Encore Boston Harbor Workers Still on Labor Strike One Month Later

More than 1,300 Encore Boston Harbor casino workers are still on strike more than one month after they abandoned their posts.

Wynn Resorts is the operator of the casino, which produced about $850 million in revenue in 2025. But despite the ongoing holdout, it has supposedly only met with union leaders two times since the strike began.

Encore Boston Harbor is one of only three fully operational commercial casinos in Massachusetts. The others are MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino, both of which are about 40 miles or further away.

Encore Boston Harbor strike rages on

Teamsters Local 25 and UNITE HERE Local 26 unions represent casino employees at the casino, including bartenders, slot machine attendants, warehouse workers, servers, cooks, and housekeepers. 

The unions are out to procure more favorable contracts and conditions for their members, who were left out of work when the unions’ collective bargaining agreements (CBA) at Encore Boston Harbor expired without a remedy on Aug. 31. 

Union leaders lobbied for a $10-per-hour wage increase across four years, a $25 minimum hourly wage, and guarantees for existing healthcare and pensions. Wynn refused to agree to the demands, claiming that union workers already averaged about $96,000 in annual pay with benefits.

The disharmony eventually led to the strike, which started four days after the CBA began. 95 percent of members who participated in a vote approved the strike , which could’ve begun on any day following the Aug. 31 deadline.

"In all that time, and in every session before the strike, Wynn has not proposed a single way to reach the Boston standard,” a UNITE HERE spokesperson said. “The Boston standard is the pay and protections union hotel workers already have for the same jobs a few miles away.”

Wynn, unions both want resolution

A statement from Wynn Resorts released in August said that the casino was hoping to agree with union leaders on the “serious proposal” the casino company had presented.

“[It] is grounded in financial reality,” the statement read. “What we cannot do is sign an agreement that is not financially sustainable, because an unsustainable agreement could put jobs at risk, for union and non-union employees alike.”

Union leaders said that they are not trying to take Wynn to the cleaner's, and they also want arrangements that work for both sides.  

“Wynn has never offered a trade, a phase-in, or any new condition that would get workers there. It has simply said ‘no,’” the statement read. “Wynn says it wants an agreement that is ‘fair, financially sustainable, and protects jobs for the long term.’ The workers want the same thing. They believe the two sides can negotiate a contract that meets the Boston standard and that Wynn can sustain for years to come.”

The cost of living has increased significantly in Boston, which is already about 48 percent more expensive than the national average. The cost has increased roughly 20.8 percent over the last five years, with shelter inflation up 4.7 percent and median home prices sitting at around $850,000.

Encore Boston Harbor and most of its amenities, including table games and slot machines, are still open amid the strike.