First vote set in dealers’ organizing effort

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

The National Labor Relations Board has set Jan. 22 as the date when dealers at the Las Vegas Strip's Tropicana hotel-casino will vote on whether they want to be represented by the Transport Workers Union.

The vote will be the first in a series of votes planned by the union at various hotel-casinos along the Strip. Currently, unions do not represent any dealers in Nevada.

About 180 Tropicana dealers will allowed to cast secret ballots in the Jan. 22 vote, to be held at the property. The election will be supervised by the NLRB.

Although dealers have never been organized before in Las Vegas, TWU organizer Jeff Osborne said he's optimistic the union will prevail at the Tropicana, saying that more than 70 percent of dealers at the property signed petitions calling for representation.

NLRB hearings were held Wednesday on the TWU petition to represent dealers at the Monte Carlo, and the NLRB is expected to set an election date there within a week, Osborne said. Upcoming hearings are scheduled for dealers at the Las Vegas Hilton, the Luxor, the Riviera and the Stratosphere.

Osborne said the union is planning to file petitions to represent dealers at Bally's Las Vegas, the MGM Grand and the New York-New York in the near future.

Live chat: Tuesday, noon PST; Chat with Krista Creelman; Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question