Caesars fires back with Web site, saying it wants to set record straight on union

By Liz Benston (contact)

Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.

A few months ago, dealers at Caesars Palace launched a Web site to jump-start a union organizing effort with the Transport Workers Union.

In the days leading up to today's secret-ballot election at Caesars, management has fought back with a site of its own.

The Web site, www.dealinfacts.com, opens with a letter from Jimmy Wike, Caesars' director of table games operations.

"This election will decide whether you hand over your individual rights to the TWU and let them speak for you," Wike's letter says. "Do you want to put your future into the hands of a transportation union which has its own interests? You didn't pick them - they came to Las Vegas to get a piece of the action to save their union."

The site, which is password-protected, contains several pages of information on the union's troubles, from declining membership to allegations of corruption. The site highlights a controversial strike by Manhattan subway workers in 2005 that crippled business during the holiday shopping season and notes that the union failed to win any major contracts for dealers during a Strip-wide organizing effort seven years ago.

The Web site also includes upbeat information on Caesars, including videos showing off the latest resort attractions and news of future upgrades.

Gary Selesner, president of Caesars Palace, said the company launched the Web site because the union had misinformed employees. "We felt it was imperative that our employees had the facts about the union and its history," he said.

Union organizers say they aren't surprised by the online counterattack.

Years ago, companies and unions would run newspaper ads or rely on news releases to get their message out. And both parties typically print fliers focusing on specific issues or rebutting the other side.

The Internet is becoming a more common organizing tool nationwide, though it's fairly new to Las Vegas, where Web sites are rarely specific to particular union campaigns.

The Web can be a cost-effective medium for both sides, especially in the fast-moving realm of a union organizing campaign, said Gregory Kamer, a Las Vegas employment attorney who assists companies in union disputes. Kamer is not involved in the Caesars campaign.

For Caesars dealers, the Web offered a unique opportunity to gather signatures anonymously, under management's radar.

The Caesars Palace Web site is an acknowledgement that the Internet strategy is working, Kamer said.

There's a downside to widening the audience for a dispute online, he said.

"It's the same issues politicians have with blogs. If information is in a newspaper, there's some degree of editorial validation. When it's on the Web, you kind of get to say what you want to say - there's no filter."