The picket line that stood at the entrance to Encore Boston Harbor for 63 days came down Thursday night. About 1,300 casino workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 voted to ratify a new contract with Wynn Resorts, and the first of them were back at work by 6 a.m. Friday, a Local 26 spokesperson told the Boston Globe.
The strike began at 7 a.m. on September 4, four days after the previous contract expired, and ran through two months of cold and rain on the sidewalk at 1 Broadway.
“Our members walked out not knowing what came next,” Local 26 president Carlos Aramayo said in the unions’ announcement, reported by Boston 25. He said the members return “as partners” with the company. In the Globe’s account he said they “held the line through cold, rain and storm.”
“This strike showed what happens when working people stand together and refuse to back down,” Teamsters Local 25 president Thomas Mari said.
Wynn Resorts spokesperson Ryan Jelniker said the company was pleased to have reached an agreement that works for its employees and the long-term future of Encore Boston Harbor, and that it looks forward to welcoming the union employees back, the State House News Service reported.
What is in the deal
Less is public than either side’s statements suggest. The unions’ release did not include the contract’s terms, and the Globe and WBUR both reported that the details were not disclosed. The Teamsters, in a separate release Friday, said the agreement runs five and a half years and includes “significant wage increases, enhanced benefits, and improved working conditions,” and that its 211-member unit, which covers the warehouse, horticulture, call center, cage, limousine, dispatch, traffic, valet and guest experience departments, ratified it overwhelmingly. No vote count was given for either local.
Seth Ogilvie, a spokesperson for the unions, told the News Service the deal delivers on the three goals the workers struck over: raises that meet what the unions call the Boston standard, the downtown hotel rate; health care preserved as it was; and job security language. He thanked Wynn for “living up to its promises to the community.”
Going in, the unions had asked for $10 an hour more over the life of the contract for non-tipped workers and $5 for tipped workers, with a $25 starting wage, and said Wynn’s offer was less than half of that. Wynn’s position was that its union workers already averaged more than $95,000 a year in pay and benefits and that labor costs had outrun revenue since 2022. Whether the final numbers landed closer to one side or the other cannot be told from what has been released.
The settlement came on the day Wynn reported its third-quarter earnings. On the company’s afternoon call, chief executive Craig Billings called the strike a “modest headwind” and said management had reached a “framework for resolution” with union leadership, casino.org reported. Encore’s operating revenue for the quarter fell to $194.7 million from $211.8 million a year earlier, and its adjusted property earnings fell to $50.1 million from $58.4 million. The ratification vote was announced a few hours later.
The cost to the casino and the state
September, the first full month of the strike, was Encore’s worst since the pandemic. Gross gaming revenue was $46.1 million, down 22 percent from $59.1 million in September 2025 and the lowest monthly figure since February 2021, according to Massachusetts Gaming Commission reports. The state’s 25 percent tax on that revenue fell by about $3.3 million for the month. October figures have not been released.
The resort stayed open throughout with management, non-union staff and replacement workers. Valet parking and the free water shuttle, both union jobs, were shut down, and several of the higher-end restaurants closed, the Globe reported.
Everett’s part in it
Mayor Robert Van Campen, who walked the line in the first week and stood on the stage with Senator Ed Markey at the October 24 rally, posted a statement Friday morning.
“Since the strike began on September 4, I have consistently encouraged both sides to come back to the negotiating table and work toward a fair agreement. I’m glad to see that has finally happened,” he wrote. “Over the past two months, I have been especially impressed by the determination and resilience of the Encore workers. Day and night, through all kinds of weather, they stood outside and made sure their voices were heard. They stood together, supported one another and never lost sight of what they were fighting for. That kind of commitment deserves recognition and respect.”
“As I’ve said from the beginning, Encore is an important part of Everett, but so are the hardworking people who show up every day and make it successful,” he wrote, adding that he looks forward to “putting this difficult chapter behind us, and ensuring that Encore Boston Harbor remains a successful community partner.”
The City Council voted 11-0 on September 14 for a resolution by Ward 6 Councilor Peter Pietrantonio backing the strikers. Pietrantonio said about 500 of them live in Everett. In May, during the fight over its license renewal, Encore told the council it employs 567 Everett residents and pays the city about $35 million a year. The Boston and Somerville councils passed their own resolutions. Governor Maura Healey visited the line, and Representative Ayanna Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Billings on October 9 asking about the company’s profits and investments.
Icylyn Whittaker, a groundskeeper and Local 26 shop steward, summed up the two months to the Globe: “Before, I was a union member. Now I know what it means to be the union.”
The contract’s length means the next negotiation would fall in 2032. The full text has not been released by either side. Our October 27 story has the background on what each side was asking for.
