Christie Administration Assists 500 Workers on Day One of Atlantic City Center Largest Deployment of Labor Department Staff Continues Re-employment Effort

ATLANTIC CITY – Governor Chris Christie continued today to assist workers impacted by the recent casino closings with the largest single deployment of staffers by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development to guide re-employment efforts as the workers’ union opened its Atlantic City Unites Here Center.

More than 40 Department of Labor staffers were on hand to assist approximately 500 impacted workers who attended the first day of assistance sessions held inside the Unites Here center, which began operations today at the Atlantic City Convention Center in space provided by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA). The state Department of Labor will remain on site through Sept. 10, when it will host its Atlantic City Career Fair at the convention center to allow displaced workers to meet 40 employers who want to hire new talent.

“We have been bringing the full resources of my department to this re-employment effort since the first casino announced it was closing in Atlantic City back in January, and we plan to remain in the city offering all services we have available to get people back to work. The important partnership we have formed with the union, our county workforce agencies, business and economic development groups, local leaders and officials from various levels of county and state government is committed to helping those impacted by this shake-up in the casino industry,” said Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths at the kick-off of the union center this morning.

The Unite Here union, which represents many casino workers in Atlantic City, plans to offer personal and social assistance through Sept. 10 to the workers impacted by the recent closures of the Showboat Atlantic City Hotel and Casino and the Revel Casino Hotel. The union plans to relocate its center to a new site to address the expected Sept. 16closure of the Trump Plaza Casino.

The Department of Labor had met with impacted casino workers before the recent casino closures, and is already scheduled to be onsite at the Trump this week and next weeks to provide counseling sessions and re-employment services to workers in that hotel and casino before their employment ends.

The Department of Labor staff also has set up posts at the union center to continue this week providing all affected casino workers with guidance on job training opportunities, skills assessments, resume development, filing for unemployment insurance, job search assistance and referrals to Jersey Job Clubs. The Job Clubs are Department of Labor networking groups designed to keep job-seekers linked to the latest information on employment trends, evolving job markets and getting a job.

Impacted workers also are being instructed to use the state’s Jobs4Jersey.com website, where they can upload resumes through the OnRamp service or allow the system to create resumes that will share their profiles with thousands of employers. OnRamp is currently listing about 300,000 available positions inside New Jersey and within a 50 mile radius of the state.

The Department of Labor continues to assist affected workers in coordination with the casinos, Atlantic City officials, several South Jersey county leaders and other key partners, including the New Jersey Hospitality, Tourism and Retail Talent Network; Atlantic Cape May and Cumberland Salem Workforce Investment Boards; the Atlantic Cape Community College, business organizations and state and local economic development organizations.

The Atlantic City Unites Here Center will be open daily at 1 Convention Blvd, Atlantic City through Sept. 10, when the Department of Labor’s Atlantic City Career Fair will open in rooms 411 and 412 at the convention center beginning at 10 a.m.

FREE PARKING: Parking is being made available for the Career Fair at Lot 149 between Ohio Avenue and Indiana Avenue, with the entrance on Baltic Avenue.

To keep alert to all state Department of Labor activities and services regarding Atlantic City, go to:

www.Jobs4Jersey.com and click on the Atlantic City Reemployment button.

Employers interested in hiring the displaced casino workers should send an email to:

jobs4jerseyemployer@dol.state.nj.us

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