Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2009 40 Special Feature A s strong labor organizations that have long represented auto workers, truck and transport workers and other blue- collar occupations migrate toward the service economy, the terms “casino” and “union” are becoming increasingly, inextricably intertwined. The United Auto Workers, among other unions, are in search of members to replace the many factory jobs they have lost to overseas operations, the poor performance of domestic automakers and a deepening worldwide recession. In casinos, they have permanently attached their aspirations to a high- profile group of service employees with a wide variety of job descriptions, from housekeepers to highly trained slot technicians. “It’s about revenues,” said Pete Kirsanow, a Cleveland attorney and a former member of the National Labor Relations Board. “They are a business like any other. Unions are in the business of getting more union members so they can get more revenues, more leverage and better able to secure better contracts. The way you grow is getting more members and more dues.” While casino companies reel from years of over-leveraged expansion, labor is making headway in jurisdictions from California to Connecticut. “Clearly, the various efforts are having an effect, at among other places, Indian casinos,” said Kirsanow. “Ever since the [NLRB] ruled in 2004 that if the casinos were operated as commercial enterprises they could be unionized, there were a quarter of a million more employees who are potential union members.” Labor’s success within the gaming industry had been increasing even before the current massive recession hit and before the Democrats took control of Congress and a new labor-friendly a d m i n i s t r a t i o n occupied the White House. The mainstreaming of gambling came about just as much because of corporate mergers as it did because of themed megaresorts, or “family- friendly” schemes or successful TV ads about what “stays in Vegas”. The evolution of privately owned casinos into publicly traded companies, with an emphasis on quarterly earnings and growth, meant a more corporate atmosphere for everyone from dishwashers to pit bosses to marketing chiefs. If it came down from the main office that belt-tightening was in order, workers with decades on the job would be let go. There has been a decided trend toward hiring more part-time workers with no benefits. None of this has gone unnoticed by labor organizers, who had had mixed reactions from casino workers in the past. Growing competition is playing a role as well. Nevada’s California is Atlantic City’s Delaware and Pennsylvania. Unionization in one market will likely spread quickly to adjacent ones. And with an overall U.S. population experiencing mass layoffs and becoming more focused on basics like job security, health care and retirement benefits, it’s hard not to correlate the national economy and current political environment with a bolder labor movement. “With the [Employee Free Choice Act] pending, unions are just The Unions Play Their Hand The terms “casino” and “union” are becoming increasingly, inextricably intertwined