Inside Asian Gaming

July 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 have to devise how to get a handle on using more machines,”possibly replacing workers. “The weak financial condition of the gaming industry remains pretty dramatic,” Eadington added, “to the point where it would, if anything, weaken [the unions’] position to organize.” Nonetheless, there is a tide of unionization sweeping through the industry. In Las Vegas, the Transport Workers Union has been in talks with Wynn Las Vegas and Caesars Palace—for almost two years. The fight, involving more than 7,000 workers who voted to be represented, may play a role in deciding what form the Employee Free Choice Act will take if a bill can get passed. An early provision of the legislation sought government arbitration to set contract terms after 120 days of the formation of a new union if an agreement has not been reached. “In a terrible economy, as people lose their jobs left and right, a lot of people lose and more would want to be part of unions,” said Steve Geller, an attorney who heads up the gaming law practice at Greenspoon Marder, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “On the other hand, the average casino company stock is down 70 or 80 percent, so that makes companies less willing to do anything that has to do with paying any more. A strike would put them out of business. These are big bargaining issues.” Daniel O’Meara, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and an employment law attorney withMontgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia, is no fan of EFCA, despite a respect for labor unions forged during his upbringing in a western Pennsylvania steel town. “I think each gaming facility that opens [in Pennsylvania and other new jurisdictions] is going to have a very specific union avoidance plan, as they open,” he said. “I think EFCA will not go through. The headline [would be], ‘Legislators take away secret ballot vote,’ and that means it won’t go through. Until we come out of the economic crisis, we’re in a time when no substantial change will go through. I just don’t think the Democrats will want to spend their finite political capital.” Meanwhile, the UAW scored perhaps the biggest casino organized labor win to date in February, when workers voted for representation at Foxwoods, the largest employer in Connecticut and the biggest casino in the world. Despite the breakthrough, unions have to contend with the central issue of tribal gaming, just as government officials and other service providers must—how to deal with jurisdiction on lands that are considered sovereign under federal law and therefore independent of state law and public policy, despite the fact that casino-style gaming on much of those lands operates on the basis of contractual agreements with states that involve benefits and concessions on both sides. “The [National Labor Relations Board] really does have jurisdiction,” said Geller, who was a Florida state senator for 20 years and served as president of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States. A Democrat, he was the Senate minority leader and advised Florida’s Republican governor, Charlie Crist, on state- tribal compact issues until last year when term limits forced his retirement. “Federal labor laws do apply on Indian reservations,” he said. “That’s the hottest issue in Indian country—in general, the Indians continue to maintain that that is not settled law.” But whatever the backdrop—tribal lands, board rooms, union halls, in the restaurant kitchens or on the sidewalks among picketers—experts say get ready for more of the same. Recessions are “generally considered historically good times for union activity,” said Kirsanow. “One thing employees feel that unions can provide is job security.” Which cannot be understated in the current downturn. On the other side, as Geller said, “Every company makes the argument that in this economy we’re on the brink, that we can’t afford negotiating the contract or granting the wage increases.” That, too, he says, is a legitimate argument. Reprinted with permission from Casino Journal. Thomas J. Walsh is a Philadelphia-based business writer, reporting on real estate, economic development, municipal planning and business trends. He can be contacted at thomasjwalsh@gmail.com . ©1986 Larry D. Moore Binion’s Horseshoe Special Feature United Auto Workers is concerned with the gaming industry and its employees