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May. 15, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CASINO INDUSTRY: Wynn to deal with dealers

Resort says it won't challenge union vote

By HOWARD STUTZ
REVIEW-JOURNAL

One day after a vast majority of its casino dealing force cast ballots in favor of union representation, Wynn Las Vegas executives seemed resigned to negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the New York-based labor organization that will speak for the workers.

The National Labor Relations Board has until next week to certify the results of the weekend election at Wynn Las Vegas, where dealers, in a vote of 444-149, asked to be represented by the Transport Workers Union of America.

Gregory Kamer, a Las Vegas-based labor attorney who represents Wynn Las Vegas, said Monday nothing has come to the attention of Wynn management that would cause the casino operator to file an objection to the election results with the NLRB. Wynn executives referred all calls on the union vote to Kamer.

"Once the (NLRB) certifies the election, we'll look at our calendars and schedule a negotiating session," Kamer said.

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    • Frank McCann Jr., who directed the organizing drive for the Transport Workers, said Sunday the property's roughly 700 dealers expect to see the casino eliminate the tip-pooling program that led to the labor unrest and subsequent union vote. In addition, McCann said, dealers want to have the right to divide their own tips and want job security initiatives.

    "Hopefully, we'll be able to sit down and negotiate an agreement in good faith," McCann said. "That's what the workers intend for us to do."

    Wynn Las Vegas has just one other union contract, a lengthy agreement with Culinary Local 226 that covers about 4,000 of the resort's estimated 9,000-person work force.

    At the crux of the union vote is Wynn's decision to change how the casino splits tips among its dealers.

    Wynn executives added certain managers and casino supervisors to the list of those who qualify to share in the casino's often-times lucrative tip pool on Sept. 1. Wynn dealers said that before the tip pooling program was started, they could earn $100,000 or more annually and the change was costing them as much as $20,000 a year.

    Wynn Las Vegas management said it started the policy to correct a pay disparity that had dealers earning more than their supervisors. Critics argued Wynn Las Vegas should have raised managers' pay, not broadened the tip pool.

    The tip-pooling program has not found its way into other Strip casinos.

    MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni e-mailed a message to several company executives last week that said similar tip pooling changes would not be used in any of the gaming operator's 10 Strip resorts. A copy of the e-mail was obtained by Wynn dealers and posted in their break room.

    MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman e-mailed Lanni's statement to the Review-Journal.

    "While we have stated as much publicly and been quoted in press reports, I want to make the position of MGM Mirage on this topic clear and unequivocal," Lanni said. "Dealer tips are their income. The money they earn belongs to them. Our company will not implement any type of tip-sharing program at any of our resorts. This commitment extends to all our casinos and will be policy at CityCenter when it opens in 2009."

    Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn, in what amounted to an eleventh-hour appeal to sway the dealers from voting in favor of union representation, told employees in three different meetings that it had been a mistake to implement the tip-pooling change.

    Wynn apologized to the dealers, saying the revamped tip pooling was a mistake. However, he stopped short of saying he would eliminate the program.

    A tape of one of Wynn's 20-minute talks was secretly recorded by a dealer and e-mailed to the media and other interested parties by pro-union dealer representatives. Las Vegas political commentator Jon Ralston placed a link to the recording on his personal blog.

    Kamer didn't dispute the unscripted comments made by Wynn.

    "It was a private meeting for our employees and taping it was a violation of company policy," Kamer said. "Steve said he made a mistake, but he didn't want the dealers to make a mistake by voting for the union. He said, however, that he would respect however they voted."

    The tip-pooling program has spawned nine months of heated debate at the hotel, including complaints by dealers to the state labor commissioner, a lawsuit filed by two dealers in District Court, and sidewalk protests by dealers.

    In addition, Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Henderson, proposed legislation in Carson City that would ban the tip-sharing agreement. Beers' original bill died in committee but was revived after being amended into another bill and approved by the Assembly in late April.

    A hearing on the bill in the state Senate was canceled last week.

    Beers said Monday that despite the union vote, he doesn't expect the bill to be revived.

    "The only way if will come out of committee and onto the Senate floor is if the chairman (state Sen. Randall Townsend, R-Reno) and the majority leader (state Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno) get a call from Mr. Wynn and he tells them to bring it out," Beers said. "Otherwise, with less than three weeks left in the session, I don't think it will come out of the drawer."



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    walter moreland wrote on May 22, 2007 05:30 AM: gee there is more than enough money fro every one, you don't have to rob peter to pay paul, wynn should pay his supervisors more mone


    Barbara wrote on May 20, 2007 08:08 PM: Obviously none of you are in the casino business. Arteth bey is the only one who understands the situation here. I am not "uneducated" or a "dropout" or by any stretch "minimal talent". People do not understand the job we do and what we have to deal with. I for one am a craps dealer and it is considered one of the most difficult games to deal. It requires intelligence. 21, roulette,baccarat dealers also have to be not only intelligent to be any good but we all have to be resilient. Does anyone understand the level of abuse we constantly have to put up with? Both from players and tactless floorpeople who can be verbally abusive in front of of customers. You want unskilled talent? I think cocktail waitresses are closer to unskilled. How much schooling does it take to call "cocktails" and write down an order. Yet they make better money than most dealers. So please stop making assumptions. Most of you have no idea what you are talking about


    ron wrote on May 17, 2007 05:50 PM: Because of the union vote, I won't play table games at Wynn and if I did, I certainly won't tip them. Earning $100,000 for minimal talent is not a good idea...it allows unintelligent people to reporduce themselves more rapidly, creating more unintelligent people. Labor unions are the main reason that US jobs are going overseas.


    CAS127 wrote on May 16, 2007 06:47 AM: LV'ers like arteth bey may need to spend some more time analyzing the basis of the LV economy and the forces for change surrounding it.

    California supplies 50% of the tourists who come to Vegas - and that market has been propped up by the biggest real estate bubble in the history of the United States.

    In a nationwide economy that was at best stagnant from 2001 to 2005 or 2006 (check out the employment-to-population figures at the Bureau of Labor Statistics), "somehow" LV was able to boom - basically because a large number of rather stupid Californians used their homes as ATMs - cashing out billions in home equity via refinancings.

    But that piggyback is now rather dramatically smashed by the *start* of the housing bust.

    So I don't think that 50% of the LV market is going to be growing much any time soon (to say the very least).

    *Meanwhile*, Macau (thousands of miles closer to another set of millions of addicted gamblers - namely China) is booming and Wynn has major interests there.

    So, if you were Wynn (a bit of a demonstrable sh*t when his PR team isn't around - see tip "shift") do you think you want to f around with a new dealers' union or perhaps just sell out to some newbie private equity fund that doesn't really understand the LV market (yet) and has billions burning a hole in its pocket (from public pension funds desperate to make good on decades of kleptocratic benefits given to public sector workers in order to purchase their votes...)

    See, the nice thing about a one industry town is that it tends to throw the backstage machinations into bolder relief...


    arteth_bey wrote on May 15, 2007 07:06 PM: It is the principal of the thing. Regardless of how much the dealers were making, it was not right for Steve Wynn to expect the dealers to subsidize his floor personnel. Those of you who criticize the actions of the dealers, would you give up your wages to subsidize people in your jobs? I think not.



    It's not about greed; it's about what's right. Even Steve Wynn admitted he was wrong. As for dealers having only a 10th grade education, I have a B. A. in English and I have been a teacher. Dealing is one of the few jobs where I can earn what I feel I deserve.



    As for moving to Macau. GEt serious!


    Ed wrote on May 15, 2007 06:26 PM: Wynn SHOULD sell and move to China.

    Why would anyone of his stature 'negotiate' with 10th grade dropouts that until learning how to deal cards... had to get naked to count to 21.

    Five Stars, Five Diamonds right out the window when these Union cry babies start their extortion tactics.

    When all this is going on, Palazzo/Venetian right next door is going to look mighty attractive.

    When the public learns the dealers are crying over $80-100K wages.... how can anyone sympathize with that?

    The whole ordeal is absurd... and greed by dealers is going to kill Wynn.



    VJ wrote on May 15, 2007 04:11 PM: Maybe that is what they need, is for Steve Wynn to sell the company and watch the dealers drop-off one by one.
    As for the TW union, they don't seem to be doing much for their people. So they will grab at any force that will have them. The dealers should have been a bit more choosey on who they asked to represent them.


    CAS127 wrote on May 15, 2007 03:28 PM: Hmmm...Does anyone want to bet that Wynn sells the LV facility to a private equity group before the year is out?

    And following that, 20% of "Wynn" LV personnel get laid off? (see Tropicana).

    And following that, Steve moves to Macau.

    Won battle, lost war?


    David Layland wrote on May 15, 2007 12:53 PM: From the outside looking in we have a casino operator trying to at least partly cover his labor costs by taking money from one part of his labor force and allocating it to another part of his labor force. My but I am confused. Is this not a case of, From each according to his ability to each according to his needs? This did not work in Russia and it will not work here. Mr Wynn has committed a taking and needs to back down.


    Robert Bass wrote on May 15, 2007 12:44 PM: I just can't see how turning cards is a unique talent that warrants labor protection. I think Steve's got them right where he wants them. No more tips, now they just get their hourly wage.


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