According to a report by the Las Vegas Sun, dealers at Caesars Palace have overwhelmingly voted down a labor contract that included terms requiring them to share tips with casino management. The provision would have been similar to the policy that the Wynn Las Vegas put into effect five years ago.
Caesars dealers voted 303-2 against the proposed contract that would have forced them to share 15% of their tips. They also frowned upon a provision that would have required workers to deal cards for 80 minutes followed by a 20-minute break. The current industry standard is 60 minutes of work.
Caesars Palace dealers voted to join the Transport Workers Union in December 2007, a decision that allowed them to reject the tip-sharing policy this month. At the time, dealers feared a tip-sharing policy, but Gary Selesner, President of Caesars Palace, said the practice of sharing tips had never been considered and the property’s management didn’t support it. That has apparently changed as of this year.
Contract negotiations are set to resume April 12th and only involve dealers at Caesars Palace; Caesars Entertainment’s nine other Las Vegas properties will not be included in the talks. The ultimate goal for the dealers is to reach an agreement much like the one achieved by the 800 unionized dealers at Caesars in Atlantic City in November. The five-year contract with the casino increased salaries by 18% with no sharing of tips.
The controversial tip-sharing policy, where dealers share between 15% and 20% of their tips with management, was first implemented in August 2006 at Wynn Las Vegas. Wynn’s decision to change the policy led to the union efforts by dealers, as they voted 3-1 in favor of a union in May 2007.
In July of last year, Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek ruled that Wynn Resorts owner Steve Wynn could legally force dealers to share tips with supervisors. Wynn casino dealers appealed that decision; however, attorneys for the company maintained that the tip policy complies with state law and is comparable to a restaurant sharing tips among busboys, bartenders, and waiters.
Caesars’ proposal is written more broadly, entitling “non-dealer employees” to receive up to 15% of the daily tip pool. Management has said it reserves the right to redistribute tips and putting it in the contract doesn’t mean it will be implemented.
Caesars and Wynn Resorts have also been in the news recently regarding their relationships with online poker rooms. Last Thursday, the Nevada Gaming Commission approved the first ever business partnership between a state-licensed gaming company and a foreign-based internet gaming operator, as Caesars Entertainment and 888 Holdings teamed up.
Together, the two companies will market the World Series of Poker and Caesars brands to gamblers in the United Kingdom.
That news was followed by an announcement that Wynn Resorts had partnered with PokerStars to support online poker legislation in the United States. The partnership would create a new online poker site, PokerstarsWynn.com, if Federal legislation were made a reality. Unlike the Caesars/888 deal, the Wynn/PokerStars partnership has yet to receive legal approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board or the Nevada Gaming Commission.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest breaking news from Las Vegas.
