Las Vegas Dealers’ Union Defeat

07.16.2008 | 10:16 am | News, casinos

This weekend, the Las Vegas Dealers Local Union’s proposal to organize dealership at the off-Strip Rio Casino was defeated by a 60% “no” vote by the casino’s dealers – perhaps signalling the beginning of the end for the union’s organising efforts. However, despite this setback, union chief Joseph Carbon declared that the union was “here to stay” after last year’s successful efforts at popular Strip casinos the Wynn and Caesar’s Palace.

The Rio’s 60% “no” vote is in stark contrast to the strong support the union received from these casinos last year, where a 75% vote in favour of the union’s proposal was recorded. It is thought that the proposal to add supervisors to the tip pool, to ensure tip protection, won the union support at the Wynn, whereas the dealers at Caesar’s Palace were swayed by the union’s role as a channel for discussing labour concerns. Whilst the Rio expressed many of the same concerns, most notably on the subject of tip protection, its President, Marilyn Winn, clarified that “when they started hearing what they were going to get (from the union), which was very little, and they would have to pay union dues to get it, they voted no”.

The contrast between the attitudes of Strip casinos such as the Wynn, and off-Strip casinos such as the Rio, is explained by the unilateral management style on the Strip, which threatens dealers’ autonomy and pools all tips into a casino-wide account. However, the Rio’s management promised that it would retain its tip protection policy, and several dealers at the casino have stated that this was a major factor in rejecting the union’s proposal.

If the union are to succeed in organising dealers across Las Vegas, they must listen to the workers’ needs, and identify the casino companies’ organisational weaknesses on an individual basis.