Schenectady

The owners of a new casino complex planned for Schenectady will need 1,200 workers, and will try to hire local residents first, its manager said Friday.

The new jobs are still months away, but Mary Cheeks, general manager of the planned Rivers Casino, said the company, while not bound under a state agreement to focus its hiring locally, still intends to do so.

She said casino owner Rush Street Gaming also intends to have employee training schools, like it did when it opened a casino in Pittsburgh, to instruct new dealers, slot machine technicians and other workers.

In Pittsburgh, 300 card dealers were trained and ready to work by the time the casino opened in 2010. Before the casino opened, 30,000 people applied for 1,000 jobs.

In the Capital Region, casino worker training will be run by both Rush Street and one of its partners, Schenectady County Community College, Cheeks said. The clock on hiring will start when the company obtains its state gaming license, she added.

It should take 18 months from the license issuance for the casino to open, Cheeks said. "We will be staggering our hiring, starting nine months out from opening, for our key leaders, and then six months out with our trainers, and finally three months out for our core team to operate the casino."

On Saturday, casino owners will hold a "job opportunity fair" from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at SCCC. Sessions will begin at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. No advance registration is required.

Under a requirement by New York state for all potential casino operators, Rush Street Gaming has an agreement not to interfere with worker unionization efforts, a so-called "labor peace agreement." The Schenectady casino has such an agreement with the New York City-based New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, which represents about 32,000 hospitality workers statewide.

Cheeks said the union is not involved in any of the pre-hiring process. A call to the council was not returned.

Among the organizations the casino operators are working with are Northeast Career Planning, Trinity Alliance, and Social Enterprise and Training Center of the Northeast Parent & Child Society.

Rivers Casino in Schenectady is Rush Street Gaming's fourth U.S. gaming facility. It also operates Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia and Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Ill., near Chicago.

In Schenectady, the company plans a $300 million gaming facility with a 50,000-square-foot gaming floor, 1,150 slot machines, 62 gaming tables and 15 poker tables. A steakhouse, a marketplace with multiple restaurants, an entertainment lounge, a banquet facility and a spa will also be a part of the project, along with a 150-room hotel.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it • 518-454-5094 • @Bnearing10