Despite operators' best efforts to keep things running smoothly, some customers complained. Trump's three gaming halls settled.

By Jacqueline L. Urgo

Inquirer Staff Writer

ATLANTIC CITY - There weren't enough clean bathrooms, open restaurants, hotel rooms, or cocktail waitresses to serve drinks quickly enough, to keep all the gamblers here happy yesterday.

As day one of a strike by 10,000 union workers at seven of the city's 12 casinos progressed, it was obvious that, despite the best efforts of casino operators to keep everything running smoothly, things just weren't as they should have been.

A strike by members of Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union took effect at 6 a.m. yesterday. The union's contract expired Sept. 14.

"The bathroom in my room was filthy when I checked," said Mildred Tabor of Silver Spring, Md., after first checking into the Tropicana Casino and Resort, where pickets lined the Boardwalk and the sidewalk on Pacific Avenue in front of the casino and repeatedly chanted "No Contract, No Peace."

Tabor and her husband checked out of the Tropicana and took a rolling chair up the Boardwalk to the non-striking Trump Taj Mahal to get away from the din. And to find a clean bathroom.

"We waited and waited for them to come and do something about the bathroom at the Tropicana, but they never came. So we checked out and came over here to the Taj. The bathroom's beautiful here," Tabor said. "We came for some peace and quiet. We didn't want to deal with all this other stuff."

As the strike deadline neared at midnight Thursday, union negotiators reached a tentative three-year agreement with Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which runs three Atlantic City gaming halls. Sands Casino Hotel joined the pact after agreeing to abide by the first contract settled. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa already has a contract in place with its service employees, which runs until 2007.

The employees on strike earn an average of $11 an hour plus tips.

Management at six of the striking casinos did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment on the strike and operations at the casino-hotels. At least two calls were made to Harrah's Atlantic City, Showboat Casino-Hotel, Caesars Atlantic City, Bally's Atlantic City, Atlantic City Hilton, and the Tropicana.

The union put out the word yesterday to the seven casinos - the Tropicana, Resorts Atlantic City, Harrah's, Showboat, Caesars, Bally's and Hilton - that it would accept the same terms offered by Trump to reach a settlement.

But by evening, there were still no calls coming into Local 54 headquarters from casino representatives, and no further negotiating sessions had been scheduled.

The Trump deal - which Local 54 members could vote on as early as Monday or Tuesday - includes an undisclosed pay raise, full paid health benefits, and limited use of subcontracted employees.

"It doesn't seem like some of the casinos are willing to budge," said Al Tabei, a Bally's bartender and union negotiator. "But neither are we. We are focused on our future and the future of Atlantic City. We made them a resonable offer; now it's time for them to come back to the table and deal with us."

And while the long-term impact of a strike is unknown, the short-term effect of the job action was being felt citywide as bartenders, cocktail waitresses, cooks, gift shop clerks, housekeepers, porters, and other service workers took to the picket lines instead of to their posts.

"No matter where you go, you feel it, you see it," said Nick Sahelly, 32, of Springfield, Va., who checked into Caesars casino hotel with his wife, Lida, earlier this week. "We've never been told we couldn't get a room here, so we were a little shocked when they told us they couldn't extend our stay for tonight, and we have to leave. They said they had to close off a block of 200 rooms because of the strike. They don't have enough housekeepers."

Or cocktail servers.

"When will this day end? My feet are killing me," lamented an aggravated Bally's casino secretary turned casino cocktail waitress as she hoisted a tray of dirty glasses and tried to muster the mojo of her newfound, albeit temporary, career. "I hope it ends soon. I hope it ends soon. I can't do this job."

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Contact staff writer Jacqueline Urgo at 609-823-9629 or jurgo@phillynews.com.