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Employees at Casino in Atlantic City Seek to Unionize

On March 30, 2007, the fight over whether the dealers should unionize intensified as employees from a 3rd gambling casino requested an election. A work group filed a federal lawsuit which aims to seek a cancellation or even temporarily delay a vote in a casino scheduled for Saturday, April 7, 2007.

The group National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation said that it usually aims to defeat compulsory abuses made by organized unions. They filed the lawsuit with the National Labor Relations Board which aims to stop the elections by dealers from the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on whether they will join the United Auto Workers.

The lawsuit also alleges that Rep. Robert Andrews, a Democrat from New Jersey, meddled with the incoming election by holding a gathering on Sunday night to count the number of union authorization cards that are duly signed by the employees.

The Right to Work organization claimed that the move by Andrews helped the union officials to meddle in the employee's right to freely choose whether they want to be a member of the UAW or not. Dorothy Moore Duncan, the Labor Board's Regional Director, commented that it is unlikely that the board will cancel the election on Saturday.

She could not comment about whether it will allow the Right to Work's group request for the election votes to be impounded until all of the misunderstandings are cleared. The case was filed after the UAW submitted the needed documents before the labor board which hopes to get a union certificate for the workers at the Trump Marina Hotel Casino.

Joe Ashton, Director of the UAW branch in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, commented that the casino dealers want to enjoy their jobs more and have a real say in their welfare with the use of the collective bargaining agreement.

A spokesman for the Trump Entertainment Tom Hickey had no comment. The Trump Marina is the 3rd Atlantic City casino that is a target of the union drive. Dealers working at the Caesars Atlantic City Casino had their union drive approved earlier this week when it was passed by a 4 to 1 voter margin.

 

Sunday, April 15 , 2007
Victor Copeland