Security guards on Strip seek to organize

At Luxor, targeted first, owner MGM Mirage fights back with carrots and sticks

Published Mon, Apr 21, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Updated Mon, Apr 21, 2008 (12:40 p.m.)

Training of security guards scrutinized (8-6-2002)

Security guards are trying to organize a union on the Strip, and the move has brought a strong response from casino giant MGM Mirage.

The guards are seeking representation by the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America. They complain of inadequate training and unsafe staffing levels, low pay and other ills.

The casinos are fighting back, claiming that guards will get a better deal if they don’t organize. That argument worked 13 years ago, the last time guards mounted a serious organizing effort.

The first test this time will be at the Luxor, where a representation election is scheduled for Friday. Elections at other properties will follow, said Steve Maritas, the union’s director of organizing.

The national union is targeting MGM Mirage, which has a five-year bargaining agreement with the union at the company’s MGM Grand in Detroit. The company agreed not to campaign against the union in Detroit but is taking a tougher stand in Las Vegas.

Management is holding one-on-one meetings with guards at the Luxor. The company is trying to prevent a domino effect at other casinos by conducting mandatory meetings at Mandalay Bay, whose 300 officers compose the company’s single largest security force, Maritas said. (The union filed an election petition for Mandalay Bay guards with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday.)

Under U.S. labor law, an employer has the right to hold so-called captive audiences during an organizing drive, provided that employees are paid for their time. Employers are precluded from making promises or leveling threats though, and the union says the Luxor is playing dirty. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB on Friday, alleging that casino management has threatened to withhold previously scheduled pay raises and other benefits if workers vote for the union.

The complaint also alleges that management offered benefits and promotions to guards who vote against the union and is now soliciting and granting grievances from officers.

An MGM Mirage spokesman said the company, though preferring that guards remain nonunion, respects the right of employees to seek union representation and has conducted itself within the limits of federal labor law.

“Those same laws also allow the company to express its viewpoint and, if necessary, aggressively promote management’s belief that our best relationship with our employees is always face-to-face, without a third party intermediary,” spokesman Gordon Absher said.

The labor board will investigate the union’s claims and set a formal hearing if it finds the charge has merit.

Guards say changes at the properties have been dramatic.

Before the organizing drive, officers say, hiring and overtime freezes left properties understaffed and on-duty guards vulnerable. Cuts were so deep, they say, that a lone guard was sometimes posted on the Luxor casino floor.

Some guards, who have little more than a 6-inch wooden “power stick” with which to fend off attacks and subdue troublemakers, say they felt unsafe. (Guards lost their guns in 2005 because of insurance liability concerns, the union says.) Backup often came from inexperienced, part-time guards.

Since the election filing, however, MGM Mirage has reinstated overtime and boosted staffing levels, and is now offering officer-training classes, Maritas said. Battered patrol vehicles were replaced last week, and security booths are being cleaned, he said.

Indeed, security guards say corporate executives are paying unprecedented attention. Luxor management held a focus group meeting last month to gauge the concerns of officers.

The meeting prompted memo from Luxor President Felix Rappaport, who praised the officers for their dedication and apologized for overlooking their concerns.

Rappaport, however, said that most of the issues were not of a kind that a union can negotiate.

He urged guards to give the company another chance.

Maritas, a feisty, chain-smoking organizer who grew up in the South Bronx, reveled in the response. On Tuesday he was holding court with about two-dozen guards at the Laughing Jackalope Bar & Grill, a no-frills joint attached to a low-rise motel across from Mandalay Bay, while an Elvis impersonator and a few ironworkers partook of the pizza he ordered for the security crew.

“These guys are coming off their thrones because we are now a threat to their empire,” Maritas said.

Guards interviewed by the Sun said they were shaken by MGM Mirage’s announcement last week that it was cutting 400 manager positions companywide. (Officers were granted anonymity so they could speak freely. A confidentiality agreement bars guards from speaking about security matters publicly.)

Job protection was at the top of their wish list. Guards also hope to win seniority rights, a better internal promotion policy, a grievance and arbitration process and a company pension plan. They also want wage uniformity across properties.

“Everything else is gravy,” Maritas said.

(Editor's note: This story has been corrected. Gordon Absher's name was incorrectly spelled in an earlier version.)

Discussion: 8 comments so far…

By jenna

4/21/08 at 3:45 a.m.

Suggest removal

Abscher?
By mikeg

4/21/08 at 9:06 a.m.

Suggest removal

Looks like the mere suggestion of a union has already brought positive changes for the security guards.

Those guys deserve to be treated better by a company that made $872 million in the most recent three month financial quarter:

http://www.rttnews.com/sp/todaystop.asp?...
By UNLVStud

4/21/08 at 3:34 p.m.

Suggest removal

Good for them. They should Unionize especially since so many of their jobs are at risk anyway with the "reorganization" that the MGM has been making in the last few days.
By vegasm

4/21/08 at 10:33 p.m.

Suggest removal

Ask any casino owner, if there was one group he could eliminate, a common answer is: Security. Security is close to, if not at the bottom, of casino pay scales. At some casinos, base pay rates have not increased in 8 – 10 years.

Some owners come right out and say they hate security, wish they could eliminate it and just let insurance cover any losses. Security is generally the least respected position in the casino (oh, we get letters telling us how great we handled a situation or event, but accolades are never followed up with pay incentives).

Casinos have a pecking order, if you will, of employee ‘value added’ status, in other words, does a particular position generate revenue, or drain from profits. Dealers and hosts generate revenue, where security, housekeeping and janitorial subtract from revenue.

On the surface, anyway.

Casinos cannot remain open without security to perform certain functions per gaming rules; so, no security – no casino. Sounds like a revenue impact to me!

Imagine a casino with no, or insufficient, security: hookers, pimps, pickpockets, credit claimers, rapists etc. allowed to roam the casino and hotel floors unmolested.

Drunks passed out, vomiting, homeless people begging or setting up ‘home’ on the casino floor, mental cases wandering among guests, medical emergencies left unattended until paramedics arrive, juveniles gambling (and the casino incurring the fines when Gaming cites them) …

How long do you think said property would continue to attract guests? If a property cannot sell its rooms and fill its floor with gamblers and drinkers, how can it generate revenue?

Security has a direct impact on casino revenue.

Unionization is a concept many years past due.

Personally, I think there should be two forces in a casino: in house security to do chip fills, escorts etc., and Casino Police, which would be a sworn organization (similar to CCSD Police) with limited, but real, powers. Guests have no idea how much crime goes unpunished because Metro is too busy and casino security have no real power or authority.

The Luxor isn’t the only strip property to have, at times, only a single officer available for calls. Even though a casino can be sued if a patron suffers harm, and it can be shown insufficient security contributed to said harm, any judgment a jury may award can be recouped in about 10 minutes on a good night at a busy casino.
By VegasSec78

4/22/08 at 2:10 p.m.

Suggest removal

A union would be nice for Security Officers (not Guards by the way) and the mere threat of a Union has opened the eyes of upper management at MGM to the important job they perform. Majority of the time, Security is thought of as the bastard step child who is only appreciated when they're needed (Drunk threatening a Pit supervisor or destroying Casino property).

The more important issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of training the officers receive prior to starting or once on the casino floor. VegasM hit it right on the head that there should be two sets officers. One to handle the mundane casino floor duties of table fills and escorts. The other group, trained officers to respond to emergency situations like Heart Attacks (which most large Casinos have EMTs on duty) or crimes against the Casino and Guests.

Our local law enforcement is far to busy to respond to every crime call on the Strip or the local casinos. Having a trained Security Force (which should receive some type of certification through POST or a state run training program) would greatly benefit the strained Police departments that have to respond to Casinos every time they're needed. A Casino Police Force could complete crime reports, cite offenders and handle escalated situations that many untrained security officers may be unable to control. Another benefit will be that it will remove some of the liability from the casinos because the officers were trained by a regulated State Agency and should be protected like Peace Officers now.

If you think that our crime statistics are bad now think of all the incidents that Casino Security handles on a daily basis that never goes reported because the police fail to respond in a reasonable time or the casino guest is from out of town and doesn't want to deal with the hassle of coming back. These crimes are not just run of the mill crimes like being drunk in public or a simple battery. Try burglary, fraud, robbery, Battery with deadly weapon and so on.

A union is a start but it will only be beneficial if it leads to better training or ultimately Casino Police at every property.
By SPFPAUNIONYES

6/16/08 at 10:11 a.m.

Suggest removal

WERE MANDALAY BAY CASINO SECURITY PROFESSIONALS ROBBED?

UNION ELECTION RESULTS

123 - 110
13 POINT DIFFERENCE
ON FRIDAY THE 13TH

NLRB Agents Actions
Raises Some Serious Questions and Doubts!

SPFPA to File Objections to the conduct of the election With and against the NLRB for not properly sealing the ballot box on all sides prior to NLRB AGENT MICHAEL J. JOHNSON leaving with it for 5 hours despite the unions objection to do so with 125 ballots cast in the first session at least 5 ballots were coming out on the sides of the unsealed ballot box.

THE UNION DEMANDED THAT THE BALLOTS BOX BE SEALED ON ALL SIDES BEFORE IT LEFT THE BUILDING FOR 5 HOURS AND THE NLRB OBJECTED!

During the closing session NLRB Agent MICHAEL J. JOHNSON

Now takes the open unsealed box and the unmarked ballots to the bathroom by himself for five (5) minutes then returns!

You conclude what could of happened in the bathroom in those 5 minutes and during the 5 hours with an improperly unsealed ballot box with 125 casted votes which could easily come out from the sides of the box!

Is this what you call a secreat ballot election or a fair election?

The SPFPA and the Casino Security Professionals working for Mandalay Bay are Demanding a Re-Run Election with safeguards to be put in place.

WE HOPE MANDALAY MANAGEMENT WILL NOT OBJECT TO A FAIR ELECTION Since There attorney and 2 observers witnessed the UNSEALD BALLOT BOX and SPFPA'S Demand to Seal it.

As well as the observers reports of the 5 minute bathroom ordeal!

The SPFPA is not implying that the NLRB or Michael J. Johnson of switching any of the ballots during the 5 hours when this ballot box was in his sole possession and when he left with the unsealed ballot box and blank ballots to the bathroom for 5 minutes we are only implying that the above actions by Michael J. Johnson of NOT properly sealing the ballot box and leaving with the unsealed ballot box and blank ballots to the bathroom for 5 minutes raises many unanswered questions on the conduct of a FAIR ELECTION!

The SPFPA is NOT accusing or implying that MGM Mirage, Mandalay Bay Management and/or the NLRB or its agents of any involvement with the above Incompetency of NLRB Board Agent Michael J. Johnson nor that they were involved in any type of corruption or collusion with the above.

In addition to the above violations The SPFPA Will be filing
Filing Objections to the Election based on a number of Labor Law Violations We Documented During the Critical Period
AGAINST MGM Mirage subsidiary Mandalay Bay.

If PROVEN GUILTY THE POSSIBILITY OF A NEW ELECTION SHOULD BE GRANTED

http://www.spfpalocal7777.org/index.html...
By doinfinewithoutthespfpa

9/17/08 at 3:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Thank you, SPFPA, for leaving. Sneaking out the back door and crawling off with your tail between your legs. Goodbye, and good riddance.