Union Stages MGM Casino Protest

The United Auto Workers gathered near the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Ledyard on Saturday to kick off the first of two days of protests against what the union calls an unfair tipping policy and the ...

[Kevin]

I hope that the union gets a fair shake by the indians though I don't trust them at all. They say one thing and turn around and do what fits into their scheme of things. I udes to work for the Mohegans in the boilerroom and they deemed me a liability because of seizures. I could not work there because THEY said I could not work. I was out of work a year because of them but now I work in a boiler room by myself doing the same thing I did there and I work alone. The Indians interept things the way THEY want to see them. I hope the union can make a difference at the casino,the indians need some kind of cantrol. They get a little money and they have all kinds of power. How come they wheren't like this when they where just starting out? They needed help to get going and they didn't want to rock the boat but now they got all that money.

[John]

Uhh, if you're having seizures, how are you not a liability? Sounds like all they were doing was mitigating risk.. Had you ever had a seizure on the job and got hurt, you and probably everybody else would start crying "how could they let somebody with this known illness work in a dangerous environment!"

[Nino Brown]

While I do NOT believe a tribe is a sovereign nation ...... FRACK THE UNIONS

[WTF]

Silly unions you are so out dated.

[John M]

I have to point out that there is no such thing a Federal Tribal Labor Law, it's a Tribal Labor Law. Under tribal law, the conditions set forth would basically make the UAW at Foxwoods a company union; it would have no leverage. In fact there was a company union at Foxwoods, it was the Employee Group Council which when it brought an issue to the tribe was ignored. After 15 years of operating as a company union the EGC was abruptly terminated. I guess the tribe and management were tired of hearing from their employees so they stopped listening.
Though the tribe built the Grand it is a monument to the 15 years of toil by the employees of Foxwoods who were the creators of the wealth that the tribe now has. And now the tribe wants to use the Grand in a way that hurts those who created it.
I purposely left out the word "MGM" as it implies that there is an MGM ownership arrangement in place. It is just an image licensing deal. The MGM does not own or run the Grand, The VP/GM of the Grand does not answer to MGM, she reports to the president of Foxwoods and the tribe. Table games are run by Foxwood's Senior VP of Table games and share services with the Foxwoods Table Games Department. Table games are a part of Foxwoods as is the Grand as down through the entire line there are shared services.
When we, the dealers, win the point that the Grand is part of Foxwoods and demand recompense for the toke shortages in our checks will the tribe magnanimously step forward with a ‘mia culpa’ and pay us the money due us. No, they are going send you a memo and say that you were overpaid and that the money due the dealers at Foxwoods must come out of your pay. They will then proceed to make weekly deductions from your paychecks until the amount due us is paid.
When you applied for jobs at the Grand it sounded too good to be true. Remember the old adage:“If it sounds too good to be true, it is!”

[Russ]

I would hope that BLUMEY uses his personal car and not his State Vehicle on his visit!!!!!!!!

[micclay]

It would be nice to known what the details of the changes in tipping policy are? I blame the Courant for incomplete reporting. I have read several articles on this with no details to the changes, only that it will decrease the dealers' earnings by 20%. The Courant should state that the Union would not provide details as to the specifics of the changes if thats the case why no specifics are provided.

[Rob]

Details in the tipping policy is MGM Grand Dealers keep all there tips. And Foxwoods dealers inculding the poker dealers pool their tips for the week.

[anonymous]

JOHN, thats call discrimination. No one is allowed to discriminate. I'm sure if the guy got a lawyer he'd be a millionare by now

[Mark]

Wonder if workers at the United Nations are allowed to unionize under US law? They are also considered sovereign land.

[MGM Are Union - Busters]

MGM Mirage in Las Vegas continue to SPEND Millions of Dollars in their attempt to to try to STOP the Casino Security Professionals from Organizing With The International Union Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America SPFPA.

The SPFPA is Planning to have Informational Picketing at several MGM Mirage Casinos very soon.

http://www.SPFPALOCAL7777.ORG

[To Tell The Truth]

Spray teh union scum with water hoses. Tell the union guys to get some education and think for themselves. Stop bullying the free market place. If you are too dumb to offer your services at above-market rates, that is your own stupid fault, not that of the consumer. @Look for the union@ - and remember the uneducated simpleton who made it, and he wants as much as a college educated person who works overtime and educates himself. What a bunch of scumbags and thugs in those unions.

[Angry Voter]

Bankrupt airlines, bankrupt detroit, bankrupt municipalities, next victim Tribal Casinos.

[TERRORIST WATCH]

MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World Long-Term Strategic Relationship Raises Terrorist Questions.
MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World have signed a definitive agreement for a $5.1 billion long-term joint venture, the companies announced today. Dubai World will invest approximately $2.7 billion in MGM MIRAGE's CityCenter (pictured) mixed-use in Las Vegas and up to $2.4 billion in up to 28.4 million shares of MGM Mirage stock, representing an approximate 9.5 percent stake in the company.
Fast Facts: Dubai's Ties
WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates has not had a major terrorist attack. But its largest city, Dubai, is a banking center that is believed to attract funds from groups such as Al Qaeda. Some of Dubai's brushes with terror groups:
— In 2004, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a Pakistani suspected of training thousands of Al Qaeda fighters, was arrested in the UAE and turned over to officials in his homeland.
— In 2002, Emirati authorities arrested and turned over to the United States Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. UAE officials said he had planned to attack economic targets in the Emirates and inflict high casualties. He was sentenced to death in absentia by a Yemeni court. Al-Nashiri was also suspected of helping direct the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
— The father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has acknowledged heading a clandestine group that, with the help of a Dubai company, supplied Pakistani nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The head of U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said the UAE was among more than 20 countries with a role in the nuclear black market.
— A 2004 report from the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks found 11 Saudi hijackers had traveled to the United States via the airport in Dubai.
— Usama bin Laden's alleged financial manager, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hisawi, received a Dubai bank transfer of $15,000 two days before the Sept. 11 attacks and then left the UAE for Pakistan, where he was arrested in 2003.
— Marwan Al-Shehhi, a UAE citizen and one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, received $100,000 via the UAE. Another Sept. 11 hijacker, Fayez Banihammad, also was from the Emirates.
— About half the $250,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks was wired to Al Qaeda terrorists in the United States from Dubai banks, authorities said. Al Qaeda money in Dubai banks also has been linked to the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Source : FOX NEWS
http://www.spfpalocal7777.org/MGMMIRAGEandDub...

[Mark]

TERRORIST WATCH wrote:

MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World Long-Term Strategic Relationship Raises Terrorist Questions.....

If you have nothing original, next time just post the link.

[Jeff H]

Russ wrote:

I would hope that BLUMEY uses his personal car and not his State Vehicle on his visit!!!!!!!!

Would you travel unreimbursed for business travel? Not me!

[Nick]

So whats so unfair about the new tipping policy?

[John M]

Here's what so unfair about the new tipping policy. The most tips come from the bigger players, mostly in Pits 20 and 88. The most profitable game for the house is Baccarat, grossing more than $50 million a year, yet Baccarat in Pit 1 barely makes any tokes. In fact the collectors often bypass Pit 1 until there are enough tokes in the boxes to justify collecting. We depend on the tokes from Pits 20 and 88 in order to make a living wage, yet these are the very players that they are luring to the Grand, thus depriving us of a decent wage for 2400 dealers at Foxwoods while giving all that money to 243 dealers at Foxwoods MGM Grand. Talk about divide and conquer tactics.

The fact is that we, the 2400 dealers at Foxwoods generated the wealth that built the Foxwoods MGM Grand is just insult piled on injury. The tribe said Give Us A Chance and we did and they did not hold up their end. Shortly after the election for the union the tribe gave every worker except the dealers and dual-rates,(The Full Floors got a true 7% raise) at Foxwoods a good hefty raise in an effort to curtail further organizing efforts. We, the union, sent them a formal letter stating that would not file complaints if they granted the dealers and dual-rates raises commiserate with those given to full floors. They did not even show us the courtesy of a reply and the respect that would have come with that reply. They have further violated federal labor law by giving a fraction of the dealers a raise while ignoring the rest of the dealers and the dual-rates, yet another slap in the face. They are using this as another divide and conquer since the dealers who got the raises deserved them but so do the rest of the dealers and the dual-rates.

[Beckie]

John M wrote:

Here's what so unfair about the new tipping policy. The most tips come from the bigger players, mostly in Pits 20 and 88. The most profitable game for the house is Baccarat, grossing more than $50 million a year, yet Baccarat in Pit 1 barely makes any tokes. In fact the collectors often bypass Pit 1 until there are enough tokes in the boxes to justify collecting. We depend on the tokes from Pits 20 and 88 in order to make a living wage, yet these are the very players that they are luring to the Grand, thus depriving us of a decent wage for 2400 dealers at Foxwoods while giving all that money to 243 dealers at Foxwoods MGM Grand. Talk about divide and conquer tactics.
The fact is that we, the 2400 dealers at Foxwoods generated the wealth that built the Foxwoods MGM Grand is just insult piled on injury.

Wow. So all this nonsense is about money that you aren't even guaranteed???? Not because you aren't making a fair wage, not because you are denied benefits, not even because you are not allowed time off (paid) to deal with life issues - but because the tips that people may or may not (and by the way are soooo not obligated to) leave will be disbursed the same way they are now??? Just. Wow.

[Beckie]

anonymous wrote:

JOHN, thats call discrimination. No one is allowed to discriminate. I'm sure if the guy got a lawyer he'd be a millionare by now

It's not discrimination if you have a medical illness that's a liability. If he has a seizure when he's alone and no one finds his body in time and he dies - who is to blame? If he cracks his head open falling to the ground from a seizure and bleeds out before anyone finds him - who is to blame? And please - pretty pretty please - don't reply with "it's no ones fault" because we ALL know that's not how it would play out if it actually happened. People want the right to sue - and they should have it - this is America after all. But since we all want the right to sue - employers have to be ten thousand times more careful about who they hire. Cause and effect baby.