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Bally's Violates Workers' Rights, dealers tell N.J. Casino Commission

Thursday, June 19, 2008

For Immediate Release: Wed., June 18, 2008

Contact: Katrina Blomdahl Cell: 202-538-1853

Bally’s violates workers’ rights, dealers tell N.J. Casino Commission

Union workers call for continued monitoring and new hearing in six months

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dealers from Bally’s in Atlantic City described critical violations of workers rights’ today, including a refusal to bargain, forcing casino dealers to work without pay, abuse of seniority rights, and failure to provide adequate security and safety procedures.

The testimony from members of UAW/AC Dealers was delivered to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission during a licensing hearing in Atlantic City.

Given the serious nature of the violations -- including a decision by the National Labor Relations Board to prosecute Bally’s for repeat violations of federal labor law -- workers called on the commission to monitor activities at Bally’s and hold a new hearing in six months.

“I call on the commission to hold Bally’s accountable for its behavior,” said Ken Lorch, a dealer at Bally’s. Bally’s refusal -- delivered in writing -- to bargain with the union formed last year by an overwhelming majority of casino dealers, Lorch said, is a plain violation of federal labor law.

The commission, Lorch said, should “demand that Bally’s cease its illegal activity immediately... and impose appropriate sanctions if it does not comply with the law.”

Casino workers, Lorch said, are subject to an unfair double standard: “If I, as a casino license holder, were accused of violating the law,” he told commissioners, “I would stand to lose my license and my livelihood until the matter were resolved.”

Other casino dealers, along with Joe Ashton, director of UAW Region 9, noted several other “troubling practices” at Bally’s, including:

Forcing workers to attend meetings and report early to their shifts without pay.
Breaking a promise to honor seniority rights of employees who worked at Claridge before it was acquired by Bally’s -- also a violation of federal labor law.
Failure to account for tokes -- a substantial portion of dealers’ income -- in a transparent manner.

Robert Beck, a dealer at Bally’s for eight years and a member of the toke committee, said that unlike other casinos, Bally’s does not report the hours worked by each dealer. “The lack of transparency, he said, “raises questions about the fairness with which tokes are distributed.”

In addition, he explained, the casino does not adequately safeguard the tips that customers set aside for casino workers. As a member of the toke committee, Beck said, “I bring bags of chips through the halls of the casinos with no security officer.”

Ken Mondillo, a 28-year dealer at Bally’s, described the unpaid time the company demands of its dealers. “Each week each dealer must attend one or two buzz meetings ... mandatory meetings. These meetings start 10 minutes before shift and we are not paid for them. On every other day, dealers are required to be at our posts five minutes before our shifts. Again, we do not get paid for this time.”

Noting a decline in tips at Bally’s due to casino policies, inadequate health care, and other negative impacts on the quality of life of casino workers, the UAW’s Ashton called on the commission to enforce the standards of the New Jersey Casino Control Act.

The law, passed when New Jersey voters approved gambling in 1976, requires the gaming industry to provide “a substantial contribution to the general welfare, health and prosperity of the state and its inhabitants.” The commission, Ashton said, should “use its power and influence over Bally’s Atlantic City to demand that the casino bring itself into compliance with the intent of the Casino Control Act.”

More than 70 percent of dealers at Bally’s voted to join the UAW in June 2007, joining a growing movement of casino workers. In the last 15 months, a majority of workers in six bargaining units at four Atlantic City properties -- Bally’s, Caesars, Tropicana and Trump Plaza -- have voted to form their own unions.

Thousands of casino workers in Atlantic City have now voted to become part of the UAW, and in March union members played a major role in lobbying for and passing the first-ever comprehensive smoking ban in a casino community.

The UAW, one of the nation's largest and most diverse labor unions, represents more than 8,500 gaming employees in Detroit, Atlantic City, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Indiana.

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