Encore Breaks $100 Million in Wages, Benefits to Local Trade Workers

Encore Boston Harbor has exceeded $100 million in wages and benefits paid to trade workers in communities surrounding the casino site, including $15 million to Everett residents alone.

The news came as Encore reviewed its local hiring commitments in April and noted that it had hit a $100 million milestone for local community employment – which includes Everett, Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Lynn, Malden, Melrose, Medford, Revere and Somerville. The figures were current as of April 19.

“Hiring local was a cornerstone of our commitment to the Commonwealth and we are extremely pleased with the results of our effort,” said Encore President Bob DeSalvio. “In addition to providing more money to local families, I have been humbled by the sense of pride and ownership that the local tradesmen and women have taken on this project.  The work product is amazing and they deserve every amount of praise that can be afforded to them. We sincerely appreciate their hard work and dedication to making Encore Boston Harbor an international destination.  – Bob DeSalvio, President, Encore Boston Harbor

The milestone was only for union trade workers from the local communities and did not include vendors or other such workers.

In Everett, there were 208 residents that worked on site, and they contributed 238,000 hours to the project.

Overall, Boston had the most workers with 609 workings earning $35 million in salaries and benefits. Boston workers contributed 520,000 hours to the project.

Surprisingly, Revere – which has no agreement or hiring preference on the project – had more workers than Everett, which has a top hiring preference for construction jobs.

Revere had 218 workers that earned $12.5 million in salaries and benefits, and they contributed 185,000 hours to the project.

Chelsea had 70 workers that contributed 75,000 hours to the project. They had earnings of just more than $5 million in salaries and benefits.

Overall, Massachusetts trade union workers accounted for 86 percent of all hours worked to date, and that amounted to $343 million in salaries and benefits.

The number of construction workers on the site is going down from its high of about 4,000 workers, but there are still about 1,000 workers on site.

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