The Union Comes to the Wynn Las Vegas - Major Vote Expected Soon - Is This Atlantic City All Over Again?

The National Labor Relations Board is expected to schedule an election in the very near future so that dealers at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas can vote on whether or not that want the union to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the resort’s management. The document for union authorization was filed by the Transport Workers Union of America.

Union reps took less than a week to collect signed union authorization cards from eligible dealers at the Wynn Las Vegas. The number of participating dealers was said to be an “overwhelming majority.” Around 700 dealers are employed by the casino.

But Wynn President Andrew Pascal seemed less than concerned. He attributed to whole matter to a “vocal minority” of the company’s employees who were upset about a change in how the casino pools and divides the tips earned by casino workers.

In September, certain managers and supervisors were added to the list of employees who could share in the casino’s tip pool. Dealers were upset, claiming that they could earn $100,000 or more annually before the new program was started. Management claimed that dealers were making more than their supervisors and the new policy was meant to correct this. Critics argued that supervisors salaries should simply be raised instead of reducing the pay of dealers (often as much as $20,000 per year).

Pascal said that dealers still angry about the change “believe the only way they can overcome making less money is by organizing.” Pascal went on to say that the Wynn is not anti-union. In fact, they have a long history of working with Culinary Workers Local 226 (a contract which expires in 2015).

A bill entitled Assembly Bill 357 was introduced which would have ended the current tip pooling arrangement. Unfortunately for dealers, it recently died in the Nevada Assembly’s Judiciary Committee. One dealer referred to the setback as “very disheartening.”

The move towards unionization could mirror a similar effort in Atlantic City casinos. Dealers at four of the 11 New Jersey casinos have petitioned in recent weeks to join the United Auto Workers.

“Atlantic City is a different set of circumstances,” Pascal said. “I don’t believe there is a comparison.”

But even if dealers vote to approve union representation, that doesn’t mean that it’s a done deal. In 2001, for example, the Transport Workers Union moved to organize dealers at 13 Las Vegas casinos. While they won elections at 3 casinos, they failed at others and were forced to eventually abandon the effort.

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The Union Comes to the Wynn Las Vegas - Major Vote Expected Soon - Is This Atlantic City All Over Again?