Union, Rio at odds over working conditions

Brian Seals

Friday, Feb. 27, 1998 | 10:36 a.m.

The Teamsters Local 995 in Las Vegas has requested two investigations of the Rio hotel-casino as it steps up efforts to organize the property.

One investigation is aimed at a man union officials claim was hired to thwart organization efforts while another is aimed at the alleged firing of an employee for what union officials say was the employee's pro-union stance.

Mark Garrity has been hired by the Rio and has been conducting mandatory meetings with Rio employees regarding unionization efforts. Rio Chief Executive Dave Hanlon said Garrity was hired to be a listener between workers and management. The Teamsters held a Thursday press conference to complain about Garrity.

One investigation requested by the Teamsters is over disclosures the union claims Garrity failed to file with the Labor Department's Office of Labor Management Standards.

The files in question are for 1991-94, 1996 and 1997.

Labor Department filings by Garrity provided by the Teamsters for 1995 show Garrity was paid $815,000 that year for labor relations work during union efforts at the Excalibur and Luxor hotel-casinos -- both owned by Circus Circus Enterprises -- Sigma Game Inc. That includes $300,000 each at the two hotels and $215,000 at Sigma.

Antoinette Dempsey of the Office of Labor Management Standards in San Francisco would neither confirm or deny an investigation was ensuing, but union officials said they had received a letter saying an investigation would be coming.

Attempts to contact Garrity were unsuccessful.

The union has also filed an investigation request with the National Labor Relations Board over the alleged termination of Rio employee Peggy Imbo. Imbo said Thursday she was fired after holding an organizational meeting in her home.

Nate Albright of the NLRB in Las Vegas said the charge was under investigation. Albright said that during such situations charges by both sides -- workers and management -- are not uncommon.

The Teamsters' press conference featured workers with bags over their heads and sported T-shirts that read "Rio Hostage," an allusion to the mandatory meetings employees have been required to attend.

What are the employees' main gripes?

"Job security and the way people are treated, that's the biggest concern," said Ray Isner, the local's director of organizing. "The employees should be given a fair chance to say who they want to represent them."

Employees who declined to be identified complained of overbearing management practices and for reprimands for minor occurrences. An operator at the hotel switchboard said managers at times have simply stood and stared at people while they work.

"The assistant manager would walk up and down the aisle, all they needed was a whip," Imbo said. "She acts like a warden in a jail or prison as far as I'm concerned."

But Hanlon said the Rio -- one of the most successful hotel-casinos in the world -- has become one of the more attractive places to work in Las Vegas.

"This place has been open eight years, it's clearly one of the top two or three places people want to work," Hanlon said. "We have 5,200 people who are happy and excited to be here."

Hanlon added that any disgruntled workers aren't being forced to stay. He said Garrity had been valuable in addressing some concerns between management and employees.

"He's beaten management up over some things we could do better," Hanlon said.

Workers conceded management had been much more kind recently. While that sounds desirable, it is a ruse companies use to make employees believe conditions will be more palatable, according to self-described former union buster Martin Levitt. Levitt is author of a book titled "Confessions of a Union Buster." He gave up that "dark art" in the 1980s, he said.

Levitt said Garrity's actions thus far mirror what he did as an anti-union warrior for almost 20 years. He said the goal is to offer dual messages -- one that management will treat them better and another that implies fear and intimidation.

Workers said that during the mandatory meetings unions are portrayed as a dying institution declining in numbers and needing new members to boost income. Union officials say they are only out to protect workers.

"We are organizing at the Rio in response to letters we received last summer. Its a long struggle, we're not going away," said Rob Rovere, a Teamster organizer.