Union, Mandalay meeting with federal mediator

Alana Roberts

Monday, Dec. 20, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.

Whether or not 320 maintenance workers at three Mandalay Resort Group properties will strike or not could be decided in a meeting set for Thursday between leaders of the company, the union and a federal mediator.

"We will attend that meeting and we have made and continue to make all necessary arrangements to continue the operation of our business under all contingencies," Mike Sloan, Mandalay senior vice president, said Friday. The two sides will meet with a mediator from the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service.

The workers at the Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus voted Thursday and Friday to reject a two-tier wage proposal by the company that offers new members $2.50 an hour less than the $21.69 an hour the properties' journeymen would make in the first year of the Mandalay contract. Both tiers of workers would get 85-cent raises in each year of the five-year contract.

The workers rejected a similar proposal in July that would have offered new workers $3 an hour less than the current journeymen, who make $21 an hour and have been working under an indefinite contract extension since late March, when their previous contract expired.

The union wants Mandalay Resort Group to accept a single-tier contract offer similar to one reached with other Strip properties this year. The union has reached single-tier agreements with Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Las Vegas Hilton, Riviera, Bally's, Harrah's, Sahara, Tropicana, New Frontier and the Jockey Club. That agreement includes a $4.30 hourly increase in wages and benefits over the five-year life of the contract.

The workers could strike as early as Wednesday, now that the union has delivered its five-day written notice to revoke the contract extension the members had worked under while negotiations continued, George Scott, business manager of the Operating Engineers Local 501, said. The notice allows the members to strike, something they approved in September.

Before he learned about Thursday's meeting, Scott said that the workers aren't likely to accept a contract that has a two-tier structure.

"The offers they've got so far are just not going to work," Scott said. "We're going to have to walk."

Contrary to what union leaders have said, Sloan said if the union strikes, the company will have enough maintenance personnel available to maintain the heating and cooling systems, inside and outside lighting, slot machines and a variety of other maintenance functions the workers perform at the casinos. He also said maintenance of the amusement park rides at the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus, the tram between Mandalay Bay and Excalibur and the beam of light at the Luxor will continue.

"There's lots of people from a variety of places who would perform those kinds of functions if necessary," Sloan said. "We'll certainly have the capability of doing it. We'll probably have the capacity of doing it with some of our supervisory personnel."

Scott previously said the company would be hard-pressed to find replacement workers quickly.

Sloan declined to comment on how many people the company plans to hire in case there is a strike; however, he said, the company is advertising for maintenance positions. He said managers will inform the workers this week that the company plans "to continue operating our business without regard to what they do."

"We'll continue to operate if that eventuality comes, Sloan said. "We hope it won't be necessary. We'll do what we need to do. Both sides said the fact that there is a meeting is a good thing.

"Again, it would certainly be our hope a work stoppage could be avoided," Sloan said. "We have bargained in good faith and continue to be willing to meet."

"I think its a very good sign the company reached out after this," Scott said. "They got the mediator involved, which is a good sign that perhaps a settlement can be reached. I'll be really happy if we get this thing settled on the 23rd. If not, we're still ready to hit the streets."