The Providence Journal (Rhode Island), March 25, 2008, Tuesday
Copyright 2008 The Providence Journal
The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
March 25, 2008, Tuesday
SECTION: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS
BYLINE: Paul Grimaldi, The Providence Journal, R.I.
BODY:
Mar. 25--Foxwoods Resort Casino in southeastern Connecticut soon could become notable for something other than its turquoise-colored roofs or its ranking among the world's largest gambling venues.
The casino could mark the point where the United Auto Workers helped American unions reverse decades of membership declines.
"The unions really see this as a do-or-die moment in labor history," said Jefferson Cowie, an associate professor in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. "Everybody is scrambling to find a new niche because the old industries are just gone."
Unions last year accounted for 12 percent of the non-agricultural work force in the United States, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from 12.5 percent in 2006.
That slide has been going on for decades, Cowie said. Union membership peaked in 1955 at 35 percent of the non-agricultural work force.
"Most people didn't see [the decline] because it was so slow," Cowie said. "In the late '70s and '80s it just fell rapidly."
Organized labor sees Indian-run casinos, such as Foxwoods and the nearby Mohegan Sun, as target-rich environments for new members. The nation's 400 or so Indian casinos employ about 250,000 dealers and nearly 700,000 workers, in all.
Last February, a federal appeals court knocked down a claim by Indian tribes that their casinos aren't subject to the National Labor Relations Act and therefore not open to unionization.
The Communications Workers of America now represent about 1,200 workers at two tribal casinos in California, while the Teamsters are trying to organize workers at a tribal casino in Michigan.
The UAW has targeted Foxwoods, one of the world's largest gambling venues and employer of thousands of workers.
Last week, a Connecticut judge handed the UAW a victory when he rejected the casino's attempt to overturn a unionization vote by Foxwoods' dealers. In November, the dealers voted 1,289 to 852 in favor of joining the union.
The UAW's secretary-treasurer, Elizabeth Bunn, took note of her union's growing representation of casino workers.
"The dealers at Foxwoods join a growing tide of casino workers standing together and standing up for a voice on the job," Bunn said in a statement.
Administrative Law Judge Raymond P. Green ordered that the process establishing the UAW as the dealers' representative should go forward. It would represent about 2,600 workers at Foxwoods.
A victory would help the UAW remake itself after years of declines in the American auto industry.
"The UAW, for a number of years, has seen the handwriting on the walls," said Scott Molloy, a professor in the Industrial and Labor Relations department at URI. "There are not a lot of auto workers around for them to organize."
The union's auto company membership is expected to drop to 150,000 by the end of the decade, from a peak of 1.5 million in the mid-1970s.
Since 2002, it has signed up nearly 50,000 white-collar workers as it tries to stay alive and relevant in post-industrial America.
The UAW represents about 8,000 casino dealers -- at Newport Grand and at casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., and Detroit. Three-quarters of them signed in just the last year.
If they're ultimately brought into the union, the 2,600 dealers at Foxwoods would make up for a similar number of jobs lost last year when Ford closed its pickup truck plant in Richmond, Va.
Besides their sheer numbers, casino jobs have other attributes attractive to union organizers -- good pay and benefits among them.
"If you work in a hotel in Las Vegas, you're doing OK," said Cowie, the Cornell professor. "You can buy a house."
Another attribute is the "made in America" label affixed to the work force -- casino jobs can't be sent overseas like manufacturing employment.
"It's a 'sticky' industry," Cowie said.
The run-up to the voting by Foxwoods' dealers last November raised issues that roll right through the union's wheelhouse: pay, health insurance and working conditions. Casino workers also complained about customers who smoke. (Connecticut is considering applying its smoking ban to the casinos.)
The Mashantucket Pequots, the casino's owners, are expected to appeal last week's ruling. The National Labor Relations Board must certify the election before contract talks begin.
"Everyone knows what's at stake," said Molloy, the URI professor. "It's more than dollars and cents; it's also having to share control with their employees."
In the aftermath of the judge's ruling, a second group at Foxwoods formally notified the casino of intent to unionize.
The International Union of Operating Engineers filed a petition stating it has the support of a "substantial number" of employees at Foxwoods who want the union to represent them. It would cover about 260 workers in the casino's engineering department.
Playing hardball to maintain sole control of the workplace it has created could backfire on the Mashantuckets, Molloy said. "As long as the place is making money hand over fist, any perceived slap in the face will [serve] as a battle cry," for union supporters.
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