The gaming industry long has been known for providing good union jobs with stable employment, solid wages and benefits. While that reputation is deserved for certain portions of the workforce, thousands of gaming workers do not enjoy the security of union contracts.
In the past two years, dealers, slot technicians and other gaming workers who traditionally have not been organized have formed unions, won elections and in some instances are bargaining contracts. In New Jersey, Connecticut, Nevada and Indiana, these workers have waged heroic fights to win justice and a real say in their working conditions.
Unfortunately, employer opposition stands in the way of achieving real justice. Casino owners have fired worker-activists, intimidated workers during elections and refused to bargain despite overwhelming union victory margins in certified National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections. If there ever was a case for the urgent need of the Employee Free Choice Act, the gaming industry’s response to dealer organizing provides it.
In Atlantic City, N.J., where several thousand dealers and other gaming workers voted to join the UAW, not a single dealer has a collective bargaining agreement today. Perhaps the most outrageous example of these wholesale violations of workers’ rights is Bally’s Casino, a Harrah’s property. Dealers at Bally’s voted in favor of UAW representation by a margin of 628-255 in June 2007, but its corporate parent, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., still refuses to bargain—even after the union has been certified as the collective bargaining agent by the NLRB and the company has lost multiple appeals. Meanwhile, Bally’s has fired union activists, stripped workers of their seniority and stopped retirement fund contributions.
The situation is similar in Las Vegas, where dealers at Caesars Palace, also owned by Harrah’s, and Wynn Casino voted overwhelmingly to join the Transport Workers Union. While the employers go through the motions at the bargaining table, they effectively deny workers their right to a contract by stonewalling on issue after issue.
The AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with all workers in the gaming industry who are fighting for their freedom to form and join unions. The AFL-CIO calls on all affiliate unions to take action in support of dealers and other gaming workers. We call on all gaming employers, and Harrah’s in particular, to stop violating federal labor law and to begin bargaining in good faith with the respective dealer unions, the UAW and TWU.
We urge Governor Corzine to bring the UAW and the casino employers to the State House to help the parties to reach first contracts. We further urge all affiliates to contact Governor Corzine to encourage him to make securing collective bargaining agreements in Atlantic City a top priority.