Casino Connection Nevada

Organized Chaos

by Roger Gros

Union membership in the United States has been in a steep decline for more than half a century. In 1957, 31.2 percent of workers in the United States were members of unions. In 2004, that percentage had decreased to 12.5. The reasons that union membership has declined are many, but the most important one is that there clearly is no need for unions, in most cases, anymore. The abuses that caused the rise of the unions in the late 1800s and early 1900s were resolved and companies came to understand that treating their employees well was not only the right thing to do, but also made good business sense.

There is currently an effort in several gaming jurisdictions to unionize casino floor workers, particularly dealers.

In Atlantic City, the United Auto Workers has won four elections to represent dealers in various casinos, and lost only one.

In Colorado, the United Food and Commercial Workers is attempting to organize casino workers in Black Hawk.

And in Las Vegas, the dealers at Wynn Las Vegas have agreed to be represented by the Transport Workers Union.

You might think that dealers in all these jurisdictions were being treated like coal miners. While there certainly have been some transgressions against the dealers (particularly at Wynn Las Vegas), in most cases, the dealers have simply been taken for granted. Yes, there are some pay and benefit issues, but nothing that would require the imposition of an alien third party on the casino floor.

Now I’ve heard some comments from executives that dealers don’t know how easy they have it. One hour on, 20 minutes off every hour… sounds great. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that dealing is one of the toughest jobs I ever had. That one hour can seem like one year some days when you have nasty players and even nastier supervisors. Dealing is a tough, grinding job, and management often didn’t make it any easier.

But if you think dealing is tough now, get ready for a sea change if the unions are allowed in the door.

Let’s talk about discipline and the union grievance and arbitration procedures and how they work in a union environment.

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.

I recently interviewed a surveillance director and was struck by the extensive written and video records that are kept regarding the numerous mistakes made by dealers. By law, the casinos are required to extensively monitor and record the activities of dealers to ensure that they are following state-approved procedures and paying out and collecting winning and losing wagers accurately. No union will ever negotiate a change to gaming enforcement laws or surveillance requirements.

Even the most proficient dealer makes errors. I know I made plenty during my day, and I was considered one of the best dealers in the house. Every dealer makes errors. And with little effort, a determined casino manager can establish a pattern of mistakes adequate to prove negligence in front of an arbitrator. Furthermore, management’s key witness at the arbitration hearing will probably be a representative from the Gaming Control Board.

Right now, the discipline process for correcting dealer mistakes has been very informal, for the most part, in the non-union environment in which we presently work. The surveillance director I spoke with says the vast majority of dealers 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 spell “punishment” to management in a union world.

As I said, 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? 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.

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