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Join a Winning Hand: Take Part in June 21 Atlantic City Rally |
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There is at least one sure bet in Atlantic City among the roulette wheels, slot machines and blackjack tables. UAW casino workers are ready to fight for a fair contract—and you have a chance to deal into the game.
On June 21, a united labor movement, backed by community supporters, will stage a major demonstration in downtown Atlantic City, N.J., to demand casino owners end their stalling tactics and come to the bargaining table. (Click here to find out more and how to join in the rally.)
Since March 2007, more than 5,000 casino dealers, slot machine technicians and others have voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW in six union representation elections at four major Atlantic City casinos: Caesars, Trump Plaza, Bally’s and Tropicana. Yet for more than a year, casino owners have delayed and stalled negotiations.
Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who will join UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, New Jersey AFL-CIO President Charlie Wowkanech and others at the rally:
Atlantic City casino workers support their union because, like so many workers, they have had their healthcare taken away, their wages have been steadily eroding, and their working conditions have deteriorated. Meanwhile, the casinos continue to reap huge profits and their executives have seen their compensation rise. These workers understand that, only through a union contract, will they gain the respect and dignity on the job that they so richly deserve.
Ernestine Dawkins, a casino dealer at Tropicana, says casino workers’ solidarity already has paid off in may respects, including winning a smoking ban in the casinos to protect the health of the thousands of workers.
Now our focus is on winning good contracts and having a huge rally in the streets of Atlantic City is going to be a major boost for all of us.
Wowkanech says Atlantic City has a long history as a “union town” and most other casino workers carry union cards.
Inside every Atlantic City casino, the waiters, the bartenders, the drivers, the maintenance staff, the housekeeping staff—they all have a union and the protection of a union contract.
If dealers and slot techs and other workers want a contract, they have the same right. We’re going to make sure the casino operators hear that message loud and clear on June 21.
Be sure to check out the new A Fair Deal Website for All Atlantic City Workers. You can download fliers for the rally and read the latest news about the Atlantic City casino workers.
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The International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America SPFPA will also there on June 21!
The SPFPA Won the Right to Represent the Casino Security Professionals working at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City and we are still fighting to get a Fair Contract.
http://www.respectforacsp.org/
The SPFPA is also Organizing all of the MGM MIRAGE Casino Security Professionals in Las Vegas as well as the rest of the strip. For more information visit the website below.
http://www.SPFPALocal7777.org
Security guards on Strip seek to organize
At Luxor, targeted first, owner MGM Mirage fights back with carrots and sticks
Las Vegas Sun
Published Mon, Apr 21, 2008 (2 a.m.)
Security guards are trying to organize a union on the Strip, and the move has brought a strong response from casino giant MGM Mirage.
The guards are seeking representation by the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America. They complain of inadequate training and unsafe staffing levels, low pay and other ills.
The casinos are fighting back, claiming that guards will get a better deal if they don’t organize. That argument worked 13 years ago, the last time guards mounted a serious organizing effort.
The first test this time will be at the Luxor, where a representation election is scheduled for Friday. Elections at other properties will follow, said Steve Maritas, the union’s director of organizing.
The national union is targeting MGM Mirage, which has a five-year bargaining agreement with the union at the company’s MGM Grand in Detroit. The company agreed not to campaign against the union in Detroit but is taking a tougher stand in Las Vegas.
Management is holding one-on-one meetings with guards at the Luxor. The company is trying to prevent a domino effect at other casinos by conducting mandatory meetings at Mandalay Bay, whose 300 officers compose the company’s single largest security force, Maritas said. (The union filed an election petition for Mandalay Bay guards with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday.)
Under U.S. labor law, an employer has the right to hold so-called captive audiences during an organizing drive, provided that employees are paid for their time. Employers are precluded from making promises or leveling threats though, and the union says the Luxor is playing dirty. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB on Friday, alleging that casino management has threatened to withhold previously scheduled pay raises and other benefits if workers vote for the union.
The complaint also alleges that management offered benefits and promotions to guards who vote against the union and is now soliciting and granting grievances from officers.
An MGM Mirage spokesman said the company, though preferring that guards remain nonunion, respects the right of employees to seek union representation and has conducted itself within the limits of federal labor law.
“Those same laws also allow the company to express its viewpoint and, if necessary, aggressively promote management’s belief that our best relationship with our employees is always face-to-face, without a third party intermediary,” spokesman Gordon Absher said.
The labor board will investigate the union’s claims and set a formal hearing if it finds the charge has merit.
Guards say changes at the properties have been dramatic.
Before the organizing drive, officers say, hiring and overtime freezes left properties understaffed and on-duty guards vulnerable. Cuts were so deep, they say, that a lone guard was sometimes posted on the Luxor casino floor.
Some guards, who have little more than a 6-inch wooden “power stick” with which to fend off attacks and subdue troublemakers, say they felt unsafe. (Guards lost their guns in 2005 because of insurance liability concerns, the union says.) Backup often came from inexperienced, part-time guards.
Since the election filing, however, MGM Mirage has reinstated overtime and boosted staffing levels, and is now offering officer-training classes, Maritas said. Battered patrol vehicles were replaced last week, and security booths are being cleaned, he said.
Indeed, security guards say corporate executives are paying unprecedented attention. Luxor management held a focus group meeting last month to gauge the concerns of officers.
The meeting prompted memo from Luxor President Felix Rappaport, who praised the officers for their dedication and apologized for overlooking their concerns.
Rappaport, however, said that most of the issues were not of a kind that a union can negotiate.
He urged guards to give the company another chance.
Maritas, a feisty, chain-smoking organizer who grew up in the South Bronx, reveled in the response. On Tuesday he was holding court with about two-dozen guards at the Laughing Jackalope Bar & Grill, a no-frills joint attached to a low-rise motel across from Mandalay Bay, while an Elvis impersonator and a few ironworkers partook of the pizza he ordered for the security crew.
“These guys are coming off their thrones because we are now a threat to their empire,” Maritas said.
Guards interviewed by the Sun said they were shaken by MGM Mirage’s announcement last week that it was cutting 400 manager positions companywide. (Officers were granted anonymity so they could speak freely. A confidentiality agreement bars guards from speaking about security matters publicly.)
Job protection was at the top of their wish list. Guards also hope to win seniority rights, a better internal promotion policy, a grievance and arbitration process and a company pension plan. They also want wage uniformity across properties.
“Everything else is gravy,” Maritas said.