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Published Wednesday, June 4, 2008 | 4:59 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.
This week the Rio became the third megaresort where casino dealers have filed a petition for an election to organize through the Transport Workers Union.
Dealers previously won the right to be represented by the Transport Workers Union at Wynn Las Vegas and Caesars Palace but have yet to sign labor contracts there.
And there may be still more organizing efforts to come. At least seven Web sites are urging dealers to organize at Strip casinos. What with layoffs, slowed business and the private equity buyout of Harrah's Entertainment, workers fear for their jobs.
UNITED WE STAND TWO UNIONS ONE POWERFUL VOICE!
TWU LOCAL 721 DEALERS AND SPFPA LOCAL 7777
Casino Security Professionals on Strip seek to organize With SPFPA.
MANDALAY BAY ELECTION COMING FRIDAY THE 13TH!
Casino Security Professionals are trying to organize a union on the Strip, and the move has brought a strong response from casino giant MGM Mirage.
Casino Security Professionals 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 Casino Security Professionals, 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, Casino Security Professionals 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.
Casino Security Professionals 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. Casino Security Professionals 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.
http://www.spfpalocal7777.org/
"Casino security professionals" --- that would be funny if it wasn't so silly. I doubt if the hiring standards for these chumps, if any standards exist at all, are much more than having to be at least 21 years of age.
My understanding is that the lying cretin in the Dougherty case (linked below) was not even fired for his misdeeds. He and others of his ilk are "professionals"? Oh, please!
http://www.thebeargrowls.com/?p=6
PRESS RELEASE
The International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) has Officially Filed Charges through our attorneys with the Department of Labor against
MGM MIRAGE Subsidiaries Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and Luxor Resort and Casino and their Labor Consultants for Failing to file their LM-10 and LM-20 Reports as required by law within 30 days of entering into agreement to undertake persuader activities.
MGM MIRAGE (NYSE: MGM), one of the world's leading and most respected development companies with significant holdings in gaming, hospitality and entertainment, owns and operates 17 properties located in Nevada, Mississippi and Michigan, and has 50% investments in four other properties in Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois and Macau. MGM MIRAGE is developing major casino and non-casino resorts, separately and with partners in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, the People's Republic of China and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. MGM MIRAGE supports responsible gaming and has implemented the American Gaming Association's Code of Conduct for Responsible Gaming at its properties. MGM MIRAGE has received numerous awards and recognitions for its industry-leading Diversity Initiative and its community philanthropy programs.
For more information on WHY MGM MIRAGE subsidiaries and their labor consultants have failed to file their LM-10 and LM-20 Reports with the U.S. Department of Labor contact:
MGM MIRAGE
CONTACT: Investment Community, DAN D'ARRIGO, EVP & Chief Financial Officer, +1-702-693-8895, or Media, ALAN M. FELDMAN, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, +1-702-650-6947, afeldman@mirage.com, both of MGM MIRAGE
To View Letter to the U.S. Department of Labor Visit the website below
http://www.spfpalocal7777.org/LM20REPORT...
Time to pack your bags Steve and go back to Detroit. The "300" have spoken, well at least more than half of us. All that was needed was a little awakening. Most of us ARE happy with our pedley little security jobs and DO NOT desire to be represented by a weak union such as the SPFPA. SO give it up and stop crying foul. WE DONT NEED any more politics, propaganda, and mailings from the SPFPA.