Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

January 28, 2008 3:45 PM Posted by Dave

Wow. This sounds like something off of a top ten list:
Top Ten Signs Your Casino Employer is Financially Troubled

10. Tells you to wait a while before cashing your paycheck
9. Won't let patrons double down on crab legs at the buffet
8. Dims the lights in the back of the house so the dingy paint job isn't as obvious [note: this really happened]
7. You're asked to play Big Six on lunch breaks
6. Nothing but cold cuts in the employee cafeteria
5. Mandatory early outs...before your shift starts
4. You're asked to "chip in" after big jackpot hits
3. Your holiday bonus is a match play coupon
2. Suit calls you at home, ask you to pick up high rollers at the airport on your way in
1. The sign on the roof says "Tropicana"

January 28, 2008 3:48 PM Posted by BrianFey

OMG!!! That's unreal.

January 28, 2008 4:11 PM Posted by Mike T

I read this the other day in the Sun. If this is indeed true, then I think that the Gaming Control Board needs to arrange a meeting with Columbia Sussex. This is unacceptable.

January 28, 2008 8:07 PM Posted by Seattle99

What will come next is them asking the employees to cash their paychecks at the cage! Been there done that. Google Funsters Grand Casinos.

January 29, 2008 7:38 AM Posted by Jeff in OKC

ColSux clearly doesn't get how it's done in Las Vegas. They have no friends and the Trop is an embarassment. This debacle wouldn't have gotten to this level if ColSux were public, shareholders wouldn't have put up with it, IMO. I think they're going to have to give up the Trop,and maybe all their Nevada gaming properties.
I wonder if the union is slow playing this to gain support for a strike. It seems a strike is unavoidable, so I wish they'd get on with it (and I'm not a union supporter). The union probably has more wide ranging support for a strike at the Trop than they've ever had in Las Vegas (with the possible exception of the Frontier about 15 years ago). Be a good time for them to use it.

January 31, 2008 3:12 PM Posted by mike_ch

Today's paper had a full page Trop ad slamming Jeff Simpson, basically saying he's a liar and shouldn't be considered a journalist. Also slags the Culinary Union quite a bit, refers to union boss D Taylor as D "Minus", etc.

A big 1.5MB photo of this I took is at http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/4616/tropicanaadbt4.jpg but I'm sorry for the blur. It's (mostly) readable though.

January 31, 2008 4:58 PM Posted by Hunter

Dammnnnnnnnnn...

Chuck from VegasTripping.com was nice enough to transcribe:

There's a new oxymoron in Las Vegas:

Journalist (Jeff) Simpson

Mr. Simpson's piece about Tropicana payroll checks in the Sunday, January 29 edition of the Las Vegas Sun is a case in point. The story is utter fiction. He violates one of the most hallowed tenets of good reporting: check your sources. And he uses omission intentionally to keep information from the public.

As to the facts, Simpson merely had to call Tropicana to confirm that there has never ever been an instance when management told employees not to cash payroll checks on payday. Had he made the call, he would have learned the truth and a lesson in how unions dupe a business editor who chooses to advocate rather than report.

Here's how it works, Mr. Simpson

A union member calls an editor to tell him a concocted story. Rather than contact the company to check the story, the editor calls the union to line up a few workers to confirm it. Then, in a stroke of source-bending genius, he talks with people at the union's office with the very leaders who concocted the story hovering nearby.

As to omission, it is unconscionable for a journalist not to reveal the facts just because they might impugn the integrity of his source. So, for the benefit of your readers, Mr. Simpson, let us finish your job. Here's a few things about UNITE HERE, the parent of Culinary Workers Union Local 226, that might explain why they have to resort to fiction to keep their union dues flowing.

A jury in California found the union lied when they sent post cards to expectant mothers alleging that a union organizing target used laundry that contained "blood, feces, and harmful pathogens." The jury awarded $17 million to the plaintiff company and the union has posted a $26 million bond while the verdict is being appealed.

A judge in Pennsylvania ruled that the union invaded employee privacy by illegally obtaining motor vehicle information and using the information to conduct "home visits." He awarded $2,500 for each violation of the federal statute, producing a potential liability of $5 million (and counting) while the case is on appeal.

Retired employees of UNITE HERE sued union officials alleging that the union unlawfully reduced their life insurance benefits to $5,000. When the union tried to get the case dismissed, a judge in New York granted the retirees the right to continue prosecuting the lawsuit.

Clearly this union will stop at nothing to win their way... up to and including scaring moms and dads, intimidating workers and perhaps even bilking their own members. We saw it in New Jersey. Same M.O. Union workers filled urinals with sand, didn't show up for work, refused to clean, threatened customers, and then called a like-minded newspaper that made front page news out of a situation the union created and perpetuated.

Finally, a word about the timing of Mr. Simpson's article. Is it possible that Culinary Secretary-Treasure D. "Minus" Taylor, as the press recently referred to him, needs a little cover to help his members forget his embarrassing political defeat in the Nevada presidential primary? Food for thought, perhaps.

We've taken out this ad because it is time for employees, regulators, industry partners and th epublic at large to hear the whole truth. We believe in the Las Vegas dream, too. But the dream won't come true if the city lets unions rule and businesses flee.