Tropicana Workers Still Without a Contract
Lisa Plummer -- Tradeshow Week, 5/30/2008 11:30:00 AM
A year has passed since the Las Vegas Culinary Union Local 226’s most recent labor contract expired. Although new five-year contracts have been successfully negotiated with 38 Strip and downtown properties, 750 union workers at the Tropicana Casino & Resort continue to work without one.
The deadlock comes at an awkward time for the Tropicana’s parent company, Tropicana Entertainment, the gaming subsidiary owned by Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corp. The company lost its New Jersey gaming license last December and recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it attempts to restructure and reorganize.
Chris Bohner, Culinary Union research director, said negotiations are still going on, but so far little headway has been made with the Strip property.
“We had negotiations last week, but we didn’t make any significant progress,” he said. “We’re hoping our next negotiations will be more productive.”
Tropicana spokesman Hud Englehart said, “We are continuing to meet with the Culinary Union in the hope that we can reach an agreement, but we won't discuss specifics except over the bargaining table.”
Issues of contention between the culinary workers and the Tropicana have included health care and pension programs, a guaranteed work week, wage increases and the use of part-time workers.
Bohner said that the next meeting between the two parties has not been scheduled, but neither has a contract deadline or strike authorization. Still, he added, the company’s financial problems shouldn’t get in the way of an agreement since any new contract would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court anyway.
If the Tropicana changes hands, workers would be protected under salary continuation measures already in place that ensure job security and guarantee salary levels in the case of an ownership change, Bohner added.
“We’re hopeful, as the company restructuring period proceeds, that there’ll be an understanding among the banks that good labor relations are a key ingredient to a successful company,” he said. “That certainly hasn’t been the case (so far).”
Bohner said that though there have been some layoffs at the Tropicana, it was Columbia Sussex’s “draconian” layoffs at its Atlantic City property that contributed to its problems with the New Jersey Gaming Commission. With a drastically reduced workforce, adequate service levels could not be maintained, a requirement for a license under New Jersey gaming laws, he added.
“The bond holders have seen that (Columbia Sussex owner) William Yung’s labor relations have been disastrous, and that a low-road labor relations strategy is a really good way to lose value in a gaming company,” Bohner said. “This is one of the largest bankruptcy proceedings in gaming history.”
Bohner pointed to a similar situation at the former Aladdin Hotel & Casino five years ago as reason for optimism.
“The Aladdin went into bankruptcy, continued to operate and came out as Planet Hollywood,” Bohner said. “(It’s) now doing well and has a union contract, so we’re hoping it’ll be the same here. We’re looking at this restructuring of the company as an opportunity for a fresh start.”
