Shelbyville casino workers plan to strike for union recognition as an election planned for Friday is “delayed indefinitely” due to the government shutdown.
The National Labor Relations Board is the federal agency tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, in part by overseeing union elections. The agency’s homepage currently bears a banner stating that it is “closed to due a lapse in appropriated funds.”
Teamsters Local 135 President Dustin Roach told IBJ that the group at Horseshoe Indianapolis had proposed to casino management the idea of maintaining the original NLRB election date, Oct. 17, using a neutral third party to conduct the vote.
“But casino management has ignored the proposal while escalating an aggressive union-busting campaign,” a Monday media advisory from the Teamsters said. Because of that, workers who plan to unionize will strike starting Tuesday, with the goal of getting Horseshoe management on board with the alternate vote plans.
More than 200 workers in the bargaining unit plan to strike. They are dealers and dual rates, which is the industry name for employees who supervise the casino floor and deal in table games.
Representatives for the casino, located roughly 30 minutes southeast of Indianapolis, did not immediately respond to messages from IBJ seeking comment.
Roach said the goal of the strike is for management to ultimately give into the election request.
Teamsters Local 135 had to use a similar process for Mayor’s Action Center’s recent union election because public employees are excluded from some NLRB activities, Roach said. That election was this past spring, prior to the government shutdown.
It is unusual for a group of workers who intend to unionize but haven’t received formal union recognition to go on strike.
The union called the decision to strike for recognition a “move virtually unseen in the modern labor movement.” Still, Roach said it is protected under the National Labor Relations Act. Typically, Roach said employers agree to demands when a strike like this is threatened. Horseshoe Indianapolis, he said, hasn’t done so.
Casino workers in Indiana aren’t new to organized labor action.
Teamsters Local 135 already represents slot attendants and warehouse workers at Horseshoe who have formed unions at the Horseshoe casino. Those workers unionized in 2023, when the casino was still called Indiana Grand Racing & Casino.
In May, more than 140 workers at Caesars Southern Indiana held a 13-day strike amid contract negotiations, which it said ultimately ended in a “powerful five-year contract.”
Horseshoe Indianapolis is home to a horse racing track and traditional casino games like roulette, table-top games and slot machines. Across that property and the Harrah’s Hoosier Park in Anderson, Caesars Entertainment had 2,875 gaming machines and 120 table games in 2021, according to the casino’s website.
About 1,415 employees worked at the Indianapolis and Anderson casinos in 2021.
In 2024, Horseshoe Indianapolis was the second-highest revenue gambling facility in Indiana at $336 million, according to data compiled by IBJ.
Horseshoe Indianapolis is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
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