ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City’s largest casino workers union is ramping up its opposition to proposed pay cuts as contracts with nine of the 11 gambling halls are set to expire Thursday.

Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union represents 14,000 housekeepers, food and beverage servers and other casino service workers. It has been aggressively fighting casino proposals for pay cuts and first-time employee benefit contributions.

The union has picketed Resorts Casino Hotel to protest steep pay cuts the workers took when the casino was sold in December. Union president Bob McDevitt says the casinos want “a sharecropper economy” in which employees pay to be allowed to work.

Resorts co-owner Dennis Gomes says the union is on a “crazy path of self-destruction.”

Negotiations are likely to continue past the deadline.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.)