UNITE HERE reaches "best-in-history" deal with three A.C. casinos

About 98 percent of the union members at the three casinos, all owned by Caesars Entertainment, voted in favor of the contract, officials said.

Union members at Tropicana Atlantic City are expected to vote on their new contract on Thursday night, said union President Bob McDevitt, adding that the terms of the contract will be not released until after Tropicana employees vote on their contract.

The contracts are valued $44 million and are “one of the best in the union’s history,” according to the union Facebook page.

Workers had sought to restore a week or more of paid vacation relinquished in 2011; a wage increase of $3 per hour, to be phased in by 60-cent increments over five years; and employer contributions to the union's health fund sufficient to keep benefits at current levels.

Atlantic City gambling revenue has decreased in each of the last nine years. But operating profits and operating profit margins recently started trending upward, as the industry benefits from less competition. Four casinos closed in 2014.

Nearly 1,000 Local 54 members at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort went on strike July 1 after negotiations fell apart.

McDevitt said it was a week ago last Thursday that the two sides held talks.

Taj Mahal owner Carl Icahn said after the strike started that the casino offered the union a health-care deal he thought members would accept. But McDevitt called that offer a “shadow” of what the union got from other casinos.