Casino Connection Nevada

Caesars Grievance

by Roger Gros

As a former Caesars dealer (OK, it was in Atlantic City and almost 30 years ago, but I was always proud that I broke in with such a quality company), I have to admit that when I heard that the dealers at Caesars Palace were going to vote on representation by a union, I was shocked.

Caesars dealers have always been special. They consistently stood above all other dealers on the Strip because the action at Caesars was always the highest (along with the tokes, of course, which demonstrate the dealers’ high levels of skill and service). While there are a couple of joints on the Strip that now equal or surpass what Caesars dealers earn in tokes, there is still a mystique about them. Even from Atlantic City, we marveled at the stories of the action at the “Palace.”

So I was confused why Caesars dealers would want to be considered just “regular” employees and become represented by a union—and not just any union, but one that has yet to prove anything in the gaming industry.

Admittedly, the attention paid to Caesars Palace dealers by the corporate executives at Harrah’s Entertainment since the buyout may not have been appropriate. They may not have realized how special the dealers at Caesars really are. But now they’ve gotten the message.

The dealers at Wynn Las Vegas voted this union in because Steve Wynn took some of their tokes and redistributed them to supervisors. Their reaction is understandable, even if a little misguided. At Caesars, there has been no attempt to do this and company officials say it has never and will never be contemplated.

So the vote coming up in December is a crucial turning point for the dealers and for the casino. The dealers have certainly gotten the attention of management. While management can’t change anything leading up to the vote, you can bet that they’ll never take the Caesars dealers for granted again.

There are so many issues in which the union movement is the wrong way to go for Caesars dealers, but let’s just focus on one: discipline and the union grievance and arbitration procedures, and how they work in a casino environment. Unions govern their membership and interact with employers through a set of very “black-and-white” rules. As a result, management starts putting “everything” in writing. Here is how it works:

When management officials determine that there is a pattern of negligence or malfeasance by an employee, they write a written warning notice to the employee advising that such mistakes or behavior cannot be tolerated. If the mistakes continue, another written warning notice is given to the employee. Depending on the severity or the costs of the continuing mistakes, the employee may be suspended without pay with a notice that continued patterns of mistakes will result in termination for cause. Then, the next mistake results in termination for cause.

The discipline process for correcting dealer mistakes has been very informal, for the most part, in the non-union environment we presently work in. Right now, the vast majority of dealers who are brought on the carpet for the first time don’t even get a formal reprimand, just a “talking to.”

However, in the “black-and-white” world of union rules, management will not have the flexibility to be informal. The informal rules and the flexibility we enjoy in the non-union world do not create the “paper trail” required in the formal union world.

Make no mistake about it, dealing is a tough job. The work, the schedule, the players and the attitudes of management often doesn’t make it any easier. But why in the world would you want to make it even more difficult and adversarial? Exactly how is a union going to make your job easier or more lucrative? How are they going to negotiate a change of attitude in a bad manager? The more grievances the union has to file, the more expensive it gets to run the union, and the more dues you’ll have to pay.

And there are many more issues at stake here: this particular union doesn’t have the best track record; the costs and impact of a potential strike; possible removal of table games in favor of slots… are the dealers at Caesars and any other casino considering unionizing really willing to risk their jobs for an out-of-town union?

Caesars dealers now have management’s attention. They will address the issues that concern them: pay raises, health care and work environment. You can do all this without a union and without the baggage that will inevitably come with an outside, foreign third party.