Thursday, April 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Union, casino contracts extended temporarily
By JEFF SIMPSON
GAMING WIRE
About 3,000 union front desk clerks, parking attendants and warehouse employees are working under temporary contract extensions at about 20 Las Vegas hotels, informed sources said.
Teamsters Local 995 contracts with the properties expired March 31.
The properties and the local agreed to extend the expired contracts indefinitely while negotiations continue.
All of Park Place Entertainment Corp.'s Las Vegas casinos have contracts with the union.
Three Mandalay Resort Group hotel-casinos, the Riviera and the Tropicana are also among the properties where Teamsters members are working under extended contracts.
This year's contract negotiations are focused on economic issues, with the cost of health care the most contentious issue, sources said.
Health care costs dominated last year's contentious contract talks between Strip and downtown hotels and the Culinary union, representing maids, food-service workers and bellmen.
About 700 Park Place workers are represented by the group.
The union has already met with Park Place bosses "a couple of times," an informed source said, with additional meetings set for next week.
Park Place's agreement gives each side the right to end the extension with a 14-day notice.
Workers at three Mandalay Resort properties are represented by the group: Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus. The union does not represent workers at the company's Mandalay Bay and Monte Carlo hotels.
Mandalay executives have met with union officials three times, with additional sessions slated for next week, sources said.
Mandalay's agreement gives each side the right to end the extension with a seven-day notice.
Park Place and Mandalay Resort executives declined to comment on the ongoing talks, and Local 995 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Magnani didn't return a Wednesday phone message.
