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StumbleCaesars Palace dealers protest on Strip
Dealers, Harrah’s Entertainment have been unable to negotiate a union contract since December 2007
Transport Workers Union members rally in front of Caesars Palace on Las Vegas Boulevard South and Flamingo Road in Las Vegas Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009.
Published Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 | noon
Updated Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 | 8:56 p.m.
Hundreds of dealers and Transport Worker Union members gathered in front Caesars Palace Thursday afternoon to show their support for the casino’s dealers during prolonged union contract negotiations.
Tourists weaved in and out of the sea of TWU members, dealers and supporters as they tried to make their way down Las Vegas Boulevard.
Demonstrators, dressed uniformly in red union T-shirts, held signs reading “Contract now” and “Give Caesars dealers a fair deal.” Their chant: Two years is too long.
Caesars dealers and Harrah’s Entertainment management have been unable to negotiate a union contract since the casino’s dealers voted in December 2007 by a 3 to 1 margin to be represented by Local 721 of the Gaming Division of TWU.
“Basically what the dealers are asking for is just the status quo; no raises or new benefits or anything like that,” TWU spokesman Jamie Horowitz said. “They just want to have a union agreement that gives them a voice to talk to their employer, that honors seniority, that gives them some rules that cant be changed overnight.”
Dealers have gone largely unrepresented in Las Vegas while other casino workers, including bartenders, electrical workers and food servers, have union representation, TWU representatives said.
“These employees came to us wanting representation. There’s got to be a reason for that; reasons that management creates,” TWU International President Jim Little said.
Harrah’s Vice President and spokeswoman Marybel Batjer responded to Thursday’s rally with this statement: “The Transit Workers of America certainly have the right to assemble. It is difficult to understand however, why any group would demonstrate or in any manner attempt to disrupt business in this difficult recessionary period. We want our guests to come to Las Vegas to enjoy themselves and have an exciting, fun time. This is hardly the time for customers to be disturbed or hassled by union demonstrations.”
As a dealer at Caesars Palace for almost 17 years and now an officer with TWU Local 721, Ernie Acevedo has seen the benefits of union representation for other employee groups that he, as a dealer, has done without.
“There are so many unions already on property, and they all enjoy protections under a contract that gives them a voice with leadership and disciplinary hearings and some sort of protections. We don’t have that. We only want what unions have already enjoyed for years and years at Caesars Palace,” Acevedo said.
Acevedo said when he started his career as a dealer, he made $29 per eight hour shift, not including tips. Now, 39 years later, Acevedo makes $62 per shift, he said.
But the dealers aren’t looking for pay increases in the union contract, TWU representatives said, and have been, for the most part, OK with the hourly wages because of their tips. Acevedo said tips make up more than 80 percent of dealers income.
Steve Wynn implemented a controversial plan in August 2006 for dealers to share part of their tips with supervisors. In late 2007, Wynn dealers voted 3 to 1 for union representation under TWU Local 721.
Although Harrah’s has pledged not to dip into dealers’ tips, without union representation, the casino could do so if they choose, Acevedo said.
“When they start infringing on our tips, that’s a problem. We have families to take care of,” Acevedo said. Say if they take 20 percent of our tips, all of sudden, bills aren’t going to get paid. We’re just trying to protect what we already have.”
Paula Angelos, a dealer at Caesars for almost 15 years, makes about $7.50 an hour — not including tips — barely enough to cover her federal income tax, she said.
“We don’t want to be like Wynn where we have to share our tips with everyone. We want to have control of our money,” Angelos said.
With recent casino ownerships changes, Angelos said, she fears a management shift at Caesars could result in layoffs of dealers.
“With all the management changes, they can let us go at any time for any reason,” Angelos said. “We want protection for the good work that we do that makes Caesars what it is without worrying about coming in one day and finding out we’ve been bought again and hear, ‘Oh, I don’t like you. You’re gone.’”
Horowitz, the TWU spokesman, accused management of trying to wear down the union.
“They just think that it’s a stalling game. They think if they just stall long enough that people will get frustrated and leave and the union effort will fizzle,” Horowitz said.
Little said by not agreeing to a contract, Harrah’s is taking of advantage of the fact that dealers have remained ununionized in Las Vegas.
“They don’t want to have a grievance-handling process, they don’t want to terminate people for just cause. They just want to arbitrarily mistreat them, and yet they have contracts with all these other employee groups.”
TWU Local 721 is set to sit down with Harrah’s management for contact negotiations again on Sept. 24.
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Hey Harrah's, Your employees are partners in running a successful business! They are not slaves or children. Treat them the way you would want a member of your own family treated! They are the ones keeping the doors open.
I'm not a pro-union kind of guy, but I'll get behind any reason to protest the morons at Harrah's.
Harrah's employees are not partners, family, slaves or children. They're employees working at specific tasks for agreed compensation. If you don't like something about the job, quit. If you don't "want to keep the doors open" for your employer, get lost, there are those who will. One has no entitlement to work and no one owes you anything....that applies to everyone.
I agree Bitwise.
Dummy up and DEAL!!!
Bitwise and gusgantry are probably disgruntled hotel managers who are mad that the people they manage make way more money then them..
To the Caeser's's dealers: Are you kidding me? This is the worst recession in the history of the valley. Unemployment is 13%+. And you are whining because you are not getting enough "extra's"? Many of you barely have a high school education or speak decent English and yet earn more than the median income in this valley. Get real... Be thankful you have a job... If you don't like your job than quit. Cuz a lot of people would like to have your job.
Sircules,
Read the article again. You are wrong. They are not demanding any "extras." The union spokesman clearly states, "what the dealers are asking for is just the status quo; no raises or new benefits or anything like that." They have every right to stick together and ask for that recognition. It's none of your business.
i used to belong to a union and they are worthless. All they are good for is protecting the lazy and incompetent workers. If your a dealer and you have senority you wont get fired or let go per say, but if you are an extra board dealer maybe youll be let go. and from what i heard from friends from other casinos is that the dealers that are full time but near the bottom of the senority list are dropped down to extra board status but aren't let go or fired. the times are tough and adjustments need to be made because the clientele number isn't the same as it use to be.
And, so another page turns on the Las Vegas gaming industry.
Once the union takes hold forget about you tips altogether, and the customer can forget about any decent service too.
The Gratuity as they post it will be included and as a customer we and the house will just have to put up we what we get like it or not.
I say keep walking, don't clog the walk-ways, keep walking angry sign holders.
Everyone is forgetting the Unions themselves. Aren't Unions entitled to grow as a business entity just like any other as part of the American dream? While it's true the dealers at Caesars covet what is arguably the best job in gaming many of these dealers are older now and deserve the comfort and assurances Union's promise. Union dues supports advertising campaigns and rally's and is needed when workers walk out, strike, and picket.
Employees took a pay cut, no raises for supervisors and above while their CEO Loveman compensation is up more than 157 percent from the $15.4 Million he received in 2007. They need to walk off the job and let it be known, but not for use you wouldn't have a job. Quit being a hog and pay us what we're worth.
"Tips make up more than 80% of their wages"
Lets's see $69 a shift plus tips, mean they make about $300.00 plus per shift. Whine to someone who cares. How many hours a day do these people work? They get paid more than the union thugs at Gov't Motor Corp. Quit bitching, I'll take the job at $35-40 per hour and be very happy.
I wonder how the tips are affected inside Ceasars with the protest going on outside? Seems to be the unions interest over the workers.
It seems greedy managers have been all over the post section here. Corporate greed is at its worst right here in our backyard along the LV strip. Benefits and working conditions have been plummeting all along the strip as corporate bonuses have skyrocketed, everyone must remember that it is strip workers that make our economy go and casinos are now foreign super corps bleeding everything they can from Vegas and investing in other jurisdictions. Vegas unite and stand up for yourselves! Support your own!
FYI, Oldvegas. I come to Vegas about nine times a year. I go their to get away from my normal 60 hour work weeks, smoke some cigars, drink and have some fun. Now I have dealers trying to force me not to smoke the their Casino's. The only reason they want a union is so they can regulate what the gamblers can and cannot do in the Casino's. At $35-$40 an hours, if its to hot in the kitchen, get out.
typical union goons.
yes...let's pick one of the worst times in recent memory to ask for more money.
brilliant.
Good grief, now the Transport Union wants the dealers. Please someone explain how the Transport Union is qualified to represent dealers.
SteveM,
Please point out where they are "ask(ing) for more money."
To Everyone:
The dealers are allowed to band together for their mutual benefit, if they so desire. And if the rest of you don't like it, you're free "get out," yourself. Labor, organized or not, is just one cog in the marketplace. If labor overplays their hand, the market will tell them so. But over the scope of history, collectivized labor has done a lot more good for this society, than bad.
I hope these dealers get the recognition they deserve. Harrah's is lousy corportation and the employees SHOULD band together. The rest of you can lump it.
I swear people in this country are such corperate whores.. you will give all your power away just for a job...we need unions we need power to stand up to big bussiness.. just like the health care thing insurance companies are laughing at you and your tea parties playing right into there hands medical insurance has been sticking it to us for years charging more and giving less and the idiots on the right are buying this whole "socialism" thing.... you've been pimped out... "so get out on that corner and make me sum money ho....i swear i'll take care of you" becuase you know paying for your surgery or giving you a raise... or better working conditions is always in the best intrest of making money lol....pretty soon we all be owned
Very few dealers here. Mostly union shills.
The dealers need to decertify that transport union and sign up with the culinary. They'd get a fair shake with them...
The 3 to 1 vote for a union is about the same as the 3 to 1 ratio of horrific, shockingly bad dealers at Caesars to decent dealers.
Coincidence, I think not. If I were a crabby old lady I would want homogenous job protection as well.
If I were that 1 in 3 decent dealers at Caesars I would be pissed as hell as all these old ladies sharing my tips, not generating any due to their personality flaws, and chasing off customers to boot. I'm a big tipper, but at Caesars I minimize it because that is my only vote.
I was playing at a table two weeks ago and literally broke out in laughter at the pit boss who told me the friendly dealers were what Caesars had over Encore/Palazzo. Asked him if he'd ever played at either, of course he had never BEEN IN either. Ran into Gary Selesner the next day and shared this story with him.
Caesars is a substandard property BECAUSE of seniority. Institutionalizing it will only hurt them further.
I'm with the workers... Corporations have ruined LV while squeezing the average Joe.
Caesar's dealers should really punish the company and quit altogether! Let Harrah's weep for their loss. Yeah,when Harrah's feels the pain of losing these disgruntled employees they will beg them to come back. But no! Harrah's does not deserve these employees that EVERY other company would leap for the opportunity to hire. As every union advocate knows; nothing is more valuable than seniority and experience including a more professional attitude, enthusiasm, and an appreciation of the opportunity of employment. These dealers are too good for Harrah's!
Goes to show you Harrah's doesn't care about it's customers nor it's employees. Sad part is in their mission statement the state that they will keep customers/employees happy.
Only a union would recommend causing problem in the midst of an economic down turn. Dumb, dumb, and dumber. Why anyone would join a union is beyond me.
The TWU and the "unionized" dealers are a joke. If they were serious, they'd strike. But they know two things:
1). If they struck, they'd be permanently replaced in milliseconds. There are no shortage of un/under employed dealers in Vegas at the moment, and they would all come streaming into CP at the barest whif of a strike.
2). Culinary will not back them. Apparently there is some sort of agreement between culinary and the casinos that culinary can have the hotel jobs, but will stay away from gaming. If this wasn't the case Culinary would have organized the dealers 20 years ago.
So dealer organizing is going to fail. There's nothing the dealers can do about it.
How can they get 35 to 40 dollars / hour dealing cards on b-j or controlling the dice tables? When I watch the games, I don't see that many tips being thrown at the dealer. Especially craps seems to me a tough game for dealers. In the high limit pits I usually see more dealers simply hanging around than working, and just as many supervisors doing nothing. I wonder how it's possible they get this amount of tips, anyway.
I checked out other casinos and see that for instance at Bellagio and Wynn some very pretty female dealers are being tipped generously. However, it's rather seldom. These transparent tip boxes to the right of the dealer are not always filled with green chips. And then again: How many people contribute on the tips these few "Georges" are giving away?
Being a dealer at a locals' or downtown casino must be even harder. I wonder if they can get 3000 usd together a month. And let's not forget about the 2nd hand smoke they have to accept, and all the other stuff. I don't think being a dealer in Vegas is an easy and well-paid job. The golden days are over with all the slotmachines taking away most business in the casino and the casino managers removing all good games that once gave the players a chance to win. No chance of winning means less tips for the dealers. Cut and dry.
From Switzerland
Does Union Mgmt receive strike pay?
Dealers use to make a decent living off tips. Now the younger set the casinos have brought in over the past couple of years never learned to tip the dealer. Therefore they are trying to get more money by making up for those said losses. At least the Caesar's Dealers are union, their slot dept was not. Slot people kept getting laid-off left and right over the recession. Most of those Slot people had been with the company for over 25 plus years.
GrandmaCrabby:
Flagger's do make that much money plus. The base rate of pay for dealers is less and they rely solely on tips to generate the income made.
My argument is with Management and their greedy tactics. Loveman is a prime example of greed and corporate welfare. The board of directors and Wall Street has enabled exorbitant pay raises and pay scales for the suit and ties while the investors and staff takes it in the shorts. See the pay the CEO makes 157% more than two years ago yet they've mismanaged every aspect of the company and they're rewarded with pay raises and huge bonuses.
They screw the little people and investors while they line their pockets without any accountability. When the little people are looked after and the fat cats are held to a higher standard and actually earn the income they're paid then the average person could understand the pay differences. Until this occurs the employees should be screaming and doing whatever it takes to ensure their security.
I interviewed for a dealer job at Harrahs once. They offered minimum wage and said I might get 3 days per week (but no guarantees.) No guarantee on when I would ever become full time and get benefits either. Sounds ok so far, you have to pay your dues, right?
Here's the problem. In spite of working a max of 3 days a week they would not let me work anywhere else to make up the difference. They said if I was caught working anywhere else I would be fired immediately. What right does Harrahs or any other company have to tell me what to do outside of work?
I support the Harrahs dealers and (effective) unions. Corporations have too much control over the state and it's about time we all stood up and fought back. Wynn stealing dealer tips was the last straw. When a patron tips it's because you're dealing good hands or laughing it up with the crowd to make the table a fun place to play. They're tipping you, not some idiot in the backroom so it's pretty sad to see people defending the corporate managers who are stealing our salaries.
Good luck Harrahs workers.
Correct me if I'm wrong. I remember that the reason why the dealers are not union is because they voted not to become a union. I remember the only yes vote was from the Trop. dealers.
Excuse me! The dealers are correct! They have 0% protection from Harrah's Bull crap! They make you dance, how does this motiavte you? Money does and knowing that a mgr can't get ride of ya because he does not like you! Dealers have 0 retirent! Unions would have this!Cocktail's have retirement and job security! and make 4 times if not more than the dealers. And as far as tips go they get a $1 or less from every drink! dealers do not get anything from the winners, dealers make most of there money from the loosers. They are the best customers! They try to tip! high rollers are not worth all the bs they put ya through.I suggest all dealers in all states go union
What a load of crap this dealer union is!!!
Are you kidding me "Paula Angelos has been a dealer @ Caesars making $7.50 barely enough..."
Why don't you come out and tell everyone that you make minimum of 75k in tips!!!
And if you want the real truth, the dealers
@ Caesars have made more money in the last 2 years than they have EVER made, i said EVER. That's the fact!!!
Harrah's blows as an operator and has ruined the EMPIRE without question, but O PITY US from Caesars dealers? That's just plain insulting to anyone in the gaming industry!!!
You dont like your 75-100k gig dealing cards @ Caesars, try the Horseshoe, The Queens, Casino Royale or the Sahara. I am sure they would love EXPERIENCED dealers like yourselves...
STFU dummy up and deal and be glad you still have a job!!!
No dealer is making 75k/year now, that is exactly why people are on strike. Barely getting minimum wage and meager tips are not a way to go.
Caesars dealers are still averaging about $150-200 in tokes. You can check up on that on dealernews.com . Now as for the union. I think all of the casinos dealers should be able to vote whether if they want to join union or not. Of course they're pros and cons that comes with being in the union. It seems like people misread the article. All these dealers want was just a recognition and stability and pension just like bartenders , cocktails , engineers have.
Most of you that believe that a las vegas dealer makes 75 to 100k a year are the same stiffs that never tip a dealer to begin with! A dealers job is a service. Ask yourself these questions: DO you tip a waiter that brings food & wine? How many hours does that waiter wait on you for that gratuity? How would you like it if you dealt cards to Michael Jourdan for 5 hrs & at the same time having Pit bosses and supervisors breathing down your neck waiting for you to make a mistake& after you have gave 120% of everything you have to please him, he doesnt tip you are even aknowledge the fact that you even a human being that provided him a service!! You feel devastated in 2 ways that Michael Jourdan Won over a million dollars & didnt tip you and you went through tremendous stress with the bosses who could fire you for any reason they wanted! Harrahs is a bad company to work for. every dealer in Las Vegas will tell you that. Gary loveman made a 35 million dollar bonus this year& could care less about the dealers that work there.He is kinda like the BERNIE MADOFF of harrahs corporation. I FEEL BAD FOR THE HARRAHS DEALERS. BEST of luck for the entire city of las vegas dealers. Its a tough job in many ways people here cant understand!
lvdealer
The question arises: Why does the (losing) player always have to tip the dealer. Sure, a player goes to play because he seeks some distraction and perhaps entertainment. On the other hand, take a look at the B-J game at the Poker Palace or at Boulder Station. I don't see many people having actually fun while playing. They seem to me rather like gambling addicts. In the super low limit games of Poker Palace for instance, I noticed that there were people betting virtually 1 dollar per hand! Same at the Long Horn or Big Horn somewhere on Lake Mead in North Las Vegas. 1 Dollar Black Jack, unbelievable. And then, how in the world can you believe that these players that wager 1 dollar per hand, can still win money if they tip , let's say 10-13 dollars to the dealer, within 1 session?
They may do so, but will run out of cash faster than you can imagine. And then, what good is it for if they run out of money and don't come back so soon ?
I work for a casino as a dealer myself. I noticed that the tips on b-j over here in Europe are not even 5 per cent (!!!) from what we get on the Roulette tables. Rule No 1: The bigger the game, the more the chance to get a tip. (does not apply to the poker games where the high limit pros are usually the tightest as it comes to tipping). This could also explain that a dealer on the Strip gets more tips than a dealer at Poker Palace or the El Cortez (no surprise). And because they get bigger tips, dealer quality is of course much better. On the other side, let's not forget that players do not sit down to play black jack and get a big show or entertainment and plan to tip 20 per cent of their money to the dealer in the first place. Most players plan to win money, and if it works out, they are probably ready to tip a share from their winnings. This does not mean, however, that a player will always tip the dealer after having been dealt a b-j after 15 nasty minutes.
Got my point?
BORIS R, You are a complete idiot! Obviously you must work for the french casinos in europe, because your theory is of a jackass! YOU DONT know anything about casinos in vegas. Come back here & get a job before you make statements like that!