oldlawdawg wrote on September 13, 2007 04:26 PM: Reporter Benjamin Spillman utilized the first several paragraphs of his article about 99% of union workers authorizing a strike with the "story" of one hotel employee,who earns $12/hour or approximately $25,000/year based on a 40 hr. week at 52 weeks flipping chicken, and loves the benefits in his current union contract that covered almost all of an $85,000 surgery,and assured his job was waiting once he recovered. While reporter Spillman prefaces this story by stating that this employee has 85,000 reasons to vote for strike authorization (i.e.,the $85,000 paid for his surgery),there is absolutely no indication that employee voted to authorize a strike,or that he had any reason to do so given that his current contract is so good as artfully demonstrated by Spillman, who made sure that salary, job duties, return to work ability and high dollar medical coverage, were all woven into those first small paragraphs that include an atribution to the employee for stating the he credits his union for securing such good benefits, but with no reporting whatsoever of that employee's actual opinion of strike authorization or how he voted -- an opinion Spillman simply suggests on his own as if was the employee's actual opinion when, in fact, that same employee who, after having been off work for health reasons, is so happy that his benefits as secured by the union to date are so good that he may not wish to return to less than full salary in order to strike when he is already happy with the benefits he has. He may just as easily have 85,000 resons NOT to authorize a strike when his salary and benefits are already good (about $25,000 isn't bad for chicken-flipping) and have been improving elsewhere without strikes,and the union understands Downtown's unique difficulties. Blatantly biased reporting.

David R Huntington wrote on September 13, 2007 02:51 PM: But management at the Tropicana, in a memo, asked workers to consider a deal that allows for more part-time jobs and subcontracting of work.

Translation....casinos do not want to pay benefits to employees. Shame on the casinos! Upper managment is making millions in bonuses and the casinos are looking for ways to 'cheat' their employees out of what they earned and deserve, let alone necessaties of life (health insurance and vacation time.)

cas127 wrote on September 13, 2007 02:21 PM: Hmmm, with the housing bust gutting the 50% of the LV market that comes from California (no more home loan refi ATM), it is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

The LBO firms that have bought into LV and just agreed to multi-year labor contracts may have just made a big mistake.

Jeffery West wrote on September 13, 2007 12:34 PM: Let's start here. The hotel workers in Las Vegas do a great job and are the heart and soul of the Vegas gaming enterprise. Without their dedication to superior service, millions of Americans like myself and folks from all over the world wouldn't come back again and again. Thanks guys for all You do!!!!

Vegas has some great business leaders too and a business has to be profitable to continue operations. All sides should be reasonable not to harm a great job creator and business model.

Let's all hope that the cooperation of excellence we all see every day when we visit Las Vegas will be present in negotiations and everyone will win!

Good Luck Guys! We're cheering for all of You!!!!!!

Mr. Rogers wrote on September 13, 2007 12:03 PM: I vote to STRIKE the casinos can only keep running with the help and that's a fact you won't see a CEO cleaning rooms and waitressing

Joe C wrote on September 13, 2007 11:57 AM: Anyone who feels unions are not necessary has not paid attention to history here in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world.
The problems stems from corruption and abuse of power by leaders of any entity whether it unions, business, government etc.
Unions also should take in consideration the financial stability of a business when making contracts. Dealers downtown make considerably less then those on the Strip. Of course dealers are non-union but profits vary as do tips. Unions should be flexible, as should business.

The problem with the Culinary where they lose my support is there is little or no diversity especially for black Americans. If the person is from the Philippines or Mexico the union over all favors Spanish speaking people, and many casino departments have shift briefing in Spanish; another sign of business not encouraging any assimilation to English.

As far as unions crippling the auto industry, very few if any CEO’s lost money, the crippling is much more complicated than union wages and benefits. Outsourcing, cutting costs instead of selling a quality product and other factors.
The end is no CEO went broke only received bigger and better pay and huge retirement packages. This isn’t saying unions don’t need to change but blaming everything on unions is wrong. In the same matter I don’t completely blame the illegal alien and cheap labor problems on Hispanic’s, but it doesn’t endear them to me when illegals are a big part of the problem.

T.C. wrote on September 13, 2007 11:49 AM: After reading these coments I'm glad I left Wal-Mart. The real enemy is cooperate America but it takes Amazing Grace for the blind to see.

rb wrote on September 13, 2007 10:53 AM: Having come from a state that pays its hospitality employees $2.25 hour and fires them when business slows, it is refreshing to know that the union here has enabled ALL the workers to earn a respectable wage. The people who hate the union here obviously need to go back to California. The older you get the more you realize the SUITS are not interested in the employees but are interested in their bonuses and moving up in the company. We should all be thankful.

Kim wrote on September 13, 2007 10:20 AM: Nice article by Mr. Spillman; he may rightfully use "fair and balanced" to describe his work. Very refreshing to see journalism as it was meant to be.

crock wrote on September 13, 2007 09:52 AM: Unions have cripled America. They crushed Detroit and now want to ruin Las Vegas with their outrageous demands. I call for the hotels to crack these overpaid underworked union bosses once and for all.

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