Union And Foxwoods Casino Reach Agreement On Dealer Contract

Foxwoods Resort Casino, which is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, and UAW Local 2121 have reached a tentative agreement on a dealer contract. If approved, the deal would become th first of its kind.

The dealers stand to gain a major increase in pay should the agreement be approved, as expected, on Friday. There are 2,500 Foxwoods and MGM Grand dealers and they stand to make an additional twelve percent per year under the agreement.

The United Auto Workers are pleased with the idea of working with the tribal casinos. They believe that a Foxwoods deal could open the possibilities to other tribe's negotiating with them concerning their workers.

"We're really optimistic about that," said Elizabeth Bunn, UAW secretary-treasurer, "We're just very pleased that this experiment had a successful conclusion because it shows that there's no inherent conflict between employee rights and tribal sovereignty."

In the Northeast, unions have been helping workers at casinos over the past couple of years. In Atlantic City, unions have organized hospitality workers and dealers at several different casinos.

The other major concession on the part of Foxwoods was a more equal tip sharing policy for dealers. Dealers make a majority of their money from tips, and the new deal will allow them to keep more of their tips. Other parts of the new deal will call for more employees to be considered regular part-time employees with benefits.

January 27, 2010
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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