ATLANTIC CITY CASINO DEALERS ON A ROLL
Caesars and Trump Plaza workers vote for UAW
The seaside resort town of Atlantic City, N.J., reinvented itself in the 1970s as a major destination for the gaming industry.
Now casino workers are reinventing their industry with a wave of union organizing.
With two successful elections and a third on the way, workers in several major Atlantic City casinos are aiming to become the first New Jersey casino dealers to win a union contract. And dealers at casinos across the city are stepping up to get involved in their own organizing campaigns.
On March 17 dealers and other gaming employees at Caesars casino voted 572 to 128 to form their own union as part of the UAW — an overwhelming 82 percent majority.
The big win at Caesars was followed by another victory March 31.
Dealers at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino voted 324 to 149 – a 68 percent majority – in favor of UAW representation.
On March 29 a strong majority of dealers at Trump Marina, a separate casino in Atlantic City, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a union representation election.
Growing interest in union organizing, casino dealers said, is driven by the high cost of living, cutbacks in health care benefits, lack of seniority and other workplace concerns.
“Many of us dealers have two jobs, because living here is very expensive,” said Amelia Rivera, who has been a dealer at Caesars for 15 years. “We cannot work like this.”
Like the gaming industry in Las Vegas, casinos in New Jersey are highly unionized, with housekeeping, restaurant, maintenance and nearly all other job classifications working with union contracts, except for dealers.
Several months ago, looking for a new approach to resolve workplace issues, dealers from New Jersey contacted the UAW, the only union in the United States currently representing casino dealers.
Dealers at three casinos in downtown Detroit are UAW members: Greektown Casino, Motor City Casino and MGM Grand.
The UAW has assisted dealers in Detroit in negotiating two successful contracts, which raised wages and improved benefits.
Now dealers at two New Jersey casinos have already voted “yes” for a union, a third election is scheduled, and dealers at casinos all along the Atlantic City boardwalk are talking about democracy in the workplace.
“The union is going to be us,” said Rivera, “standing together, voic-ing our needs, trying to find solutions to our problems and being able to talk to management.”
“We need a union in Atlantic City. The whole city is moving toward that way. Everybody should be able to see it,” said Clif Beavers, a dealer at Trump Plaza for nearly 12 years. “I think people are beginning to catch on. They’re becoming more conscious of the fact that it’s time for a union.”
In other UAW organizing news:
• In Region 1 workers at Accu-Rig Industrial Services LLC, a machine moving company, recently joined the UAW in a card-check recognition. The company is in Mount Clemens, Mich.
• In Region 1D workers at two Plastech locations in Kentwood, Mich. voted March 16 to join the UAW.
• Workers at the Talon Court and the 50th Street facilities became UAW members in a card-check recognition. Workers in both locations produce auto parts for companies including Johnson Controls Inc. and the Big Three.
