Union performance debated after votes

David Strow

Monday, March 12, 2001 | 11:25 a.m.

The first round of union votes in a labor organizing drive at Las Vegas Strip casinos is over -- and now the very mixed results are the subject of debate over which side really won and why.

Dealers at eight properties voted against organization in the historic campaign over the past two months, compared to just three properties voting in favor. The voting ended Saturday with a 76-345 loss for the Transport Workers Union at Treasure Island.

This wasn't the outcome expected just a few months ago, when the union said it had received signed authorization cards from more than three-quarters of the dealers at at least a dozen Strip properties. As elections drew near, many expected a rout by the TWU and the sudden organization of tens of thousands of Strip dealers.

The TWU says the outcome isn't a bad showing, considering the circumstances.

"When you look at the big picture of the attempt to organize a whole new profession, we've been very successful," said Jeff Osborne, organizer for the TWU. "You can't reflect on the past few months and say this has been a success or flop. At the first stage, I think it's been very successful ... a lot more successful than we think right now."

But allies of the TWU are smarting after the string of losses -- and are wondering aloud if the union, with just three organizers in Las Vegas, did enough to combat a determined anti-union campaign by casinos.

"They were under-horsepowered. They underestimated their opposition," said Las Vegas union consultant Marty Levitt, who advised the TWU during the campaign. "Instead of bringing in more troops, they rode on what they believed was their momentum.

"The union-busting forces kicked ass. It's that simple."

Union busters weren't successful everywhere, as dealers at the Tropicana, Stratosphere and New Frontier voted in favor of organization.

Bill Steinbarth, a craps dealer at the Tropicana with more than 30 years' experience, said being a dealer today is like having the sword of Damocles constantly swinging over your head -- and many have grown tired of it.

"They think it's about money," Steinbarth said. "The No. 1 issue is job stability. It does not exist in the casino business. The Trop has a lot of older dealers. If you're 55 years old, and you're fired and blackballed, where are you going to go work?"

Across the Strip at the New York-New York, things turned out quite differently. When the dealers of the New York-New York voted Feb. 17, the margin against organization was more than 4-to-1. Dealers at sister property MGM Grand handed the union a similarly lopsided defeat.

"We have a good benefits package, and we make damn good money," said New York-New York dealer Karel Smith. "This isn't an industry where we need a union to do anything for us. (New York-New York dealers) overwhelmingly said, 'I'm not going to take a chance on promises (the union) can't keep."'

Making a decision

On the Strip, dealing can be a lucrative job. It can also be an unstable one.

Virtually all dealers are paid at or slightly above minimum wage. What dealers rely on to drive their paychecks are tips, usually called "tokes." Dealers pool these tips, then split them by shift across the casino floor.

At properties frequented by high-rollers and lots of gamblers, these tokes can easily push a dealer's pay above $50,000 a year. At these properties, the union found it tough to break through, as many feared a change in tipping policies.

"With big companies, there are more opportunities, and (employees) know they'll be around," said Shannon Bybee, executive director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute. "They have more sophisticated programs for their employees."

Mike Jannicelli, dealer at the New York-New York, said he was concerned about a clause in the TWU's constitution referring to monthly dues of two times members' hourly wages "or any reasonable equivalent" -- a clause he believed would include tokes. (The union denies tokes would have been included.)

He also was concerned that joining a union would restrict dealers' ability to communicate with management.

"It's like one big happy family at the New York-New York," Jannicelli said. "If I have a problem, I can go right to the (property) president and discuss it with him."

But at properties drawing fewer customers, tokes might not be what they used to be -- and many dealers at those properties believe management should help stabilize their financial situation.

Steinbarth points out that cocktail waitresses and bartenders also work for tips. Those professions are represented by the Culinary Union at most Strip casinos -- the Culinary and the Teamsters have refused to try to organize the dealers, so as not to jeopardize their relationships with casinos.

A 2000 UNLV wage survey found that Strip bartenders averaged $12.98 an hour and cocktail waitresses $8.33 an hour before tips, compared to $5.50 an hour for dealers.

"If you're not making the tips, and you're making five and a quarter an hour, you're making nothing," Steinbarth said. "You're talking about somebody at McDonald's making more than we're making (in hourly wages)."

Despite this, Steinbarth said he wouldn't have voted for a union a year ago. But his mind changed when the system for distributing tips to dealers changed.

Before last summer, tips at the Tropicana were distributed daily. Taxes were withheld based on an average hourly wage of salary plus tips. Then, the rules changed, and Tropicana dealers began receiving tips on a bi-weekly basis.

With this, Steinbarth said, came a change in tax withholding. Because of this change, Steinbarth said, many dealers found themselves taking home almost nothing for weeks on end to pay off the Internal Revenue Service. Steinbarth said he went 10 weeks with very little pay.

"That seriously injured a lot of dealers financially," Steinbarth said. "They had a decent team (of union consultants) in there, they just couldn't sway enough people for all the injury (the new toke policy) caused."

Financial concerns probably also propelled the wins at the Stratosphere and New Frontier, gaming experts say, as did concerns about the properties' future. There's been talk that both the Tropicana and New Frontier will be demolished to make way for new properties -- while the Stratosphere is owned by financier Carl Icahn, known for his wheeling and dealing with his investments.

"Those are all fairly weak properties, certainly in comparison to the top-tier corporate properties," said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.

All dealers are employed on an "at-will" basis, though dealers don't agree on how unstable that status really is. Steinbarth and other pro-union dealers tell stories about dealers being fired in an instant after a high-roller complained, even though the dealer might not have done anything wrong.

"You should be able to be fired for stealing or verbal abuse, but you should be able to go to somebody to plead your case," Steinbarth said.

Other dealers, however, dispute the argument that a dealer's job is tenuous.

"You pretty much have to fire yourself in this job," said Kristin Williams, a dealer at the MGM Grand.

The next step

With the first rounds of votes complete, the TWU will now turn its attentions to trying to negotiate a contract at the three properties it carried. Federal law says the properties must negotiate "in good faith" for at least 12 months, but doesn't compel the properties to accept a contract.

A strong contract could help the union's cause immensely by giving it a model contract that would help convince other dealers to vote for the union in future elections. But no one believes it will be easy.

The Teamsters union, in 1977 and 1981, was also successful in winning elections to organize dealers at the New Frontier. But that union could not come to terms with management on a contract, and withdrew in 1987.

Allies of the TWU say the union must be prepared for tough negotiations.

"If they try to stonewall, they (pro-union dealers) can picket, and make the public and the nation aware that these joints are putting down the will of the people," said Jack Lipsman, vice president of the National Federation of Gaming Employees. "If they (the union) sense there's no good faith, they're going to let them have it."

Levitt, however, isn't convinced the TWU will be successful, though he believes other major unions will make a run at organizing dealers if the TWU fails.

"Had a majority of the Strip organized, then there would have been serious clout at the bargaining table," Levitt said. "With these three, it's going to be tough to get a contract. And even if there is a contract, it's not going to be at the level non-union properties are at right now."

But Osborne insists the TWU isn't going anywhere. Card signing campaigns are continuing at other Strip properties, he said, and the union can file for a second election at properties it lost within a year.

And if companies don't deliver on promises made in recent months, the second round of elections may have a distinctly different outcome, Osborne said.

"They (the casinos) are getting their year," Osborne said. "There's not going to be any changes. (Anti-union) campaigns won't be as effective next time, because they'll be numb to it when they try again.

"Do these people want to organize their profession? I think they will. There was enough people at every one of those properties that were in-between on this thing. They're on the fence, and they could get off on either side."

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