From the Queens Courier:Resorts World Casino shut the doors to its Aqueduct Buffet on Monday, and in turn on about 175 employees.
“I thought it was a drastic move, certainly one that could be reconsidered down the line,” said State Senator Joseph Addabbo.
The buffet closed on Jan. 6 after “trying to make it work for two years, and just couldn’t,” said a spokesperson for the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council (HTC).
“We have made the difficult decision to close the Aqueduct Buffet, which never caught on with our customers and has consistently lost money,” said Ed Farrell, Resorts World president. “We sincerely regret the impact this closure has on the buffet’s employees and are working closely with the HTC to ease this transition.”
The HTC is in contract with Resorts World and has begun helping the laid-off employees find new work.
In the interim, the buffet workers will receive up to five weeks severance pay, depending on how long they were employed at the casino and what job they did. They will also get 120 days of extended family medical coverage and preferential hiring in other Resorts World departments, according to the spokesperson.
The employees did not receive notice the buffet was closing, but the spokesperson said the “federal WARN notice,” the worker adjustment and retraining notification act, does not apply in this situation. The buffet had to have more than a third of Resorts World employees to receive forewarning.
29 comments:
Every time I visited, the buffet was always busy.
When they first opened in 2012, it cost $16 for all you could eat.
Last month the price was $38. Something happened.
Also noticed that they recently removed the security guards from the entrances to each casino floor.
this place is an eyesore and a disaster,everything predicted about this casino is coming true.
you should see how depressing the subway platform at aqueduct is on the weekends.these are not high rollers here.and our sellout gov. wants to build more of these.For a guy who is too stupid to legalize weed,he must be high.
Dregs, thugs, and losers. That's all one sees at this "casino".
A sleazy joint for sure. No class here.
Certainly cannot disagree with any of the above. The other thing is the surround area is depressing, it it far from nice or even decent, it is pretty crappy. They got the money and just decided to plop this casino here without improving the surrounding area, which is so typical with shit like this. So really, what quality people would even want to come up to that area.
Where are these people getting money to gamble with?
Is this part of DiBlasios tale of two cities???
Hmmmmm
Everything that made citizens vote to restrict gambling a century ago remains true.
It is a cynical conspiracy between politicians and casino operators to make the poor poorer.
This isn't a casino, it's a place where underprivileged NY'ers go to pay another type of "tax". I think NY state has a 75% / 25% split with the developer here, where NY is getting the 75%. Pols had nothing to say about this....why? because they're getting 75%(aka as getting paid off). How do we get industry back in Queens? not like this. This actually works the other way around. taking whatever is left of expendable income away from people and depositing it at resorts casino.
I suppose the Casino was ok to go to when it first opened, but afterwards I've heard so many bad stories of the place that I wouldn't go even if someone paid me to. Also it's not in the best neighborhood in the world. Everything is run down and it looks like it's going to be the end of the world there. I do feel sorry for the workers though, it's horrible to lose your job either before, during or after the holidays.
This is what happens when a country loses its position as a manufacturing powerhouse and simply becomes a "smoke and mirrors" economy of retail and service employment. Globalization is and was inevitable. Blame it on overreaching unions and environmentalists, exorbitant property taxes and phony politicians.
How many of the 175 lost jobs were permanent and how many part-time?
Did Resorts get tax breaks to create jobs at the casino/racino? If so will they lose a percentage of the cuts due to the layoffs?
Finally, doesn't 175 sound like a lot of jobs for a restaurant? Could they downsize the operation, retain some workers and turn a profit?
First off, the neighborhood isn't that run down--it is working class.
Second off, the casino made big bucks while Fema was handing out Sandy money and now that that has dried up, I suspect the profit margin is suffering. A lot of the clientele are poor and working class, and I have heard too many sad stories of Sandy money being lost in that casino...
The neighborhood around it is nasty....atleast in atlantic city, you get a boardwalk to go on even though the surrounding neighborhood is a piece of garbage...but this is just garbage in a garbage neighborhood...no boardwalk, nothing else interesting to see around there just trashy people.
Shoulda named it a Trashino.
Putting it in this area is just a bad decision. I'm not going to gamble in an establishment with so much riffraff eyeing you everywhere you go. Electronic table games is also stupid and goes against the whole point of going to a casino.
Doesn't it say something about Queens when its own residents look down on working class people.
Look into a mirror. Queens has lost so much respect we do not even respect ourselves.
Goes a long way explaining why we elect those people and believe everything they tell us.
No big loss they didn't even have chit'lins) paki noodles or baby octopus.
So called president ed Farrell is a prejudice racists discriminant cold hearted creature never has he helped out people but always seeked for help we should all unite and bring him down from his title
This casino should not be closing the buffet. Their prices are ridulously high. With all the money they are making, they should be back the buffet, lower the prices and hire workers back.
It appears the owners don't know how to operate a buffet. And the food court is a disaster waiting to happen. The wait for restaurants is too long, even on weekdays. Stupidity and greed is what will take this place down.
la union 6 despues que los empleados los apoyaron no hiceron nada por ellos solo se vendieron con los duenos para luego ser tirados a la calle
todos los empleados que tiraron por la razon que eran los fundadores del casino despues que esperaron 2 anos para recibir union fueron sacados para no pagarles los beneficio mientras ellos trabajron cuando habia abusos descriminacion preferencias y el casino gano millones apoyaron politicos como Diblasio horas gratis para apoyar a Diblasio ahora ya tienen lo que querian ya los empleados los tiran como basura hasta del bano fue sacado por que ni eso ya podia usar que verguenza falta de respeto para los empleados que dieron sus espaldas para que se beneficiaran ahora son basura
Soon as they had to pay a living wage poof all the much ballyhooed jobs for Queens residents disappear. Be they made a deal with union before signing contract and the union will sell these poor workers out too.
But these jobs were guaranteed by the operator.thats how the city gave them the contract. Something smells here.
Yes, something smells. We're talking about gambling and politics, so of course it does. But two things: this was a state deal, not city. And the casino still employs far more people than it agreed to when it got the deal.
I remember a time unions held negotiations and strikes taking place before any layoffs became effective. Now you simply get no warning and a pink slip on the day you report for work. I hope there are no further layoffs for the rest of the workers at the casino. It would have been better for their union to fight for reduction in hours instead of reduction in the workforce.
President Ed Farrell said the buffet never caught on with the casino customers. I remember many a day when I waited on long lines for that buffet. But, that's when the buffet price was reasonable. Ironic that the casino with the highest revenues of any casino in the country, can't give it's patrons a buffet. Just about every casino in Vegas and AC has a buffet. How can they manage to do that and not Resorts World? If they lost money , it was mismanaged. But, I think the bottom line is they want to use that space for more slots. Pure greed!
How does Foxwoods and Mohegan manage then to operate their Buffet when the majority of customers have free buffet vouchers. Lines were always long on weekends but when prices kept increasing folks stopped coming. The food court is garbage..50 bucks for two hotdogs and two sandwiches saturday...the only place that was worth the wait was Wolfgang Pucks and that was closed last year.
THE union is the problem they are the one that sell the 175 people out every thing in that casino is bribery and politics people need to stop going their to gamble
44 Dollars for a dinner buffet without top shelf items is ridiculous.
I will say this, POOR BUSINESS MODEL.
I was in there twice in DEC with casino points to pay the bill. there were scores of employees just standing around in the dining room doing nothing.
The food was average and selection was limited but good.
On both occasions I was there the cashier ladies had bad attitudes, didn't smile and weren't even friendly, not worth 40,000 a year.
If they dropped the price to 24.00 and cut the staff by 25% the place would have probably worked.
In response to Joe Morreti comments: "Certainly cannot disagree with any of the above. The other thing is the surrounded area is depressing, its far from nice or even decent, it is pretty crappy. They got the money and just decided to plop this casino here without improving the surrounding area, which is so typical with shit like this. So really, what quality people would even want to come up to that area."
The biggest most important question everyone should be asking is why NY state and the developers did not build the casino in Manhattan? With millions of people living in Manhattan and people with load cash, the casino would have tripled the revenue compared to Jamaica. And having casino in Manhattan would have cut the driving distance as well making convenient for those in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Manhattan would be the epicenter and perfect spot for casinos.
The reason why the casino was built in Jamaica was to use casino's revenues to pay for the welfare of the blacks and Hispanics who live there. And also hire them as employees. The entire Jamaica is an ugly place typically when it comes to minority area. Its a sh*t hole. The NY state government refused to understand (for political correctness) that the people who goes to casinos are gamblers with money and they are white and Asians. Do you think such people would want to go Jamaica? What if another casino opens up in Manhattan or Westchester County or Astoria? Then the casino in Jamaica will totally collapse.
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