Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.
Yet another union is considering making a run at organizing casino dealers, the last great group of gaming employees unrepresented by organized labor.
The latest entrant -- the Transport Workers Union -- faces the same obstacles other unions have faced over the past decades in their attempts to organize dealers. That has some observers already doubting the effort will succeed.
"I think it's unlikely (the effort will succeed), but it will be awhile before we know for sure," said Shannon Bybee, executive director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute. "At this point, I'd guess it would be difficult for them to accomplish it, but not as difficult as it might have been 20 years ago."
But the union consultant largely responsible for sparking the union's interest in the dealers is already warning that this effort will be different.
"This time, there is no doubt the dealers will organize," said Marty Levitt, who spent 20 years as an anti-union consultant in Las Vegas. "I would bet a paycheck on it."
Levitt said the union plans to establish an office in Las Vegas within two weeks. Soon after, he said, as many as five casinos -- three of them owned by Park Place Entertainment -- could be targeted in an organizing campaign. Levitt didn't say which Park Place properties would be targeted. The company has five casino resorts on and around the Las Vegas Strip but is selling one, the Las Vegas Hilton.
Over the past 20 years, two unions -- the Teamsters and the Operating Engineers -- have made unsuccessful runs at representing dealers in Las Vegas. The most progress was made by Teamsters Local 14, which won elections in 1977 and 1981 to represent dealers at the Frontier. But contract negotiations between the sides stalled, and the union pulled out of the Frontier after an employee filed a decertification petition in 1987.
A similar effort at Bally's in Atlantic City also failed, Bybee said. However, the United Auto Workers union succeeded in its organization efforts in Detroit, and now represents workers at the two casinos in that city.
The Transport union would face a hurdle other unions did not, as it does not have any current presence in Las Vegas outside of McCarran International Airport. By the same token, that means it has little to lose by attempting to organize dealers, Levitt said.
Job conditions, pay, tip-splitting policies and job security are the primary reasons dealers want to be organized, said Tony Badillo, president of the National Federation of Gaming Employees. Most dealers are paid at or slightly above minimum wage, with the vast majority of their income coming from player "tokes."
"At this time, they don't need any reason at all (to fire dealers)," Badillo said.
Patrick Hicks, managing partner with Hicks & Walt -- a law firm that represents management in labor issues -- argues there wouldn't be much support for unionization among dealers.
"You never underestimate potential organizing drives, but I don't think there's anything that exists today that would make organizing any more attractive to the dealers than it has been in the past," Hicks said. "Generally, as Las Vegas and the gaming industry have done well over the last 20 years, the dealers have also done well. The fact that dealers have not reached out (to unions) ... is an indication that they're doing well."
Casinos may also not be willing to give up that freedom so easily when dealing with employees so close to the casino's cash flow.
"In terms of job protection, they may not get as much as they anticipate (with a union)," Bybee said. "They negotiated for years (at the Frontier), and never got anything. Look at how long the Santa Fe has been negotiating. Do (dealers) have the staying power? And can they get that much of a better deal?"
But Levitt said the dealers are prepared for a long campaign -- and "aren't going to take anyone's crap."
"(Casinos) are almost terrified that the dealers are serious this time," Levitt said. "There aren't enough dealers out there to replace all the dealers."
Rather than simply rallying outside of properties, Levitt said, dealers could take "very creative job actions" that would immediately cut casinos' cash flow. One simple method, he said, would be if dealers simply slowed their pace by 50 percent.
"It would probably be smarter to meet with the union and really try to carve out a contract in everyone's best interests," Levitt said.
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