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Letter
# 63
Subj:
Watching from the Midwest
Date: 01/17/2001 8:21:04 PM Pacific Standard
Time
From: # 63-Illinois (IdealRoulette@aol.com)
To: dealers@nfge.com
Hello,
fellow dealers! I'm from one of the Midwest's riverboat
casinos. Let me tell you all this, we're watching VERY closely to
what is happening in Vegas! Believe me when I tell you, the
working conditions are no better here. At least if you folks
are feeling the urge, you seem to be able to switch properties
fairly easily. Where can one go here? We only have a
few boats!
If anything is to improve here, it must
start in Vegas. There's no way Harrah's, Empress, Grand
Victoria, Trump, Magestic Star, Hollywood, or Para-dice will do
anything to better conditions for their employees, if it's not
been done in Vegas. Believe me, we're all watching very
closely! I just wish your whole movement was more publicized
than it is. Believe it or not, there's still a few dealers
out here that have no idea what you all are going through!
We all need a union. We all need
fair pay. We all need to be compensated for so many things,
and we all need some fair treatment! There's no reason the
teenager flipping burgers at McDonalds should be paid more than I
am, after 7 years of dealing all the games. "No, tokes
do not count, Mr. Manager, I earn those on my own, you only pay me
$4.50 to start". Here in the Midwest, when we have to
take a "MLOA", we only receive 60% of our base pay...
that's only $3.00, if you make $5.00 an hour. Gee,
can you even eat on that?
Now, let's all breathe in as much smoke
as we can, and deal to as many coughing / sneezing idiots as
possible, and then try to survive on a Medical Leave at $3.00 an
hour. Another option would be to call off a few days. But
when you do this, try not to use up too many of your unpaid sick
days, or you'll risk termination! I believe 7 days a year is
about the limit here for our casinos.
At Harrah's Casino Joliet, if you call
off on a weekend that's close to a holiday, they count that day as
TWO days, thus eating up your sick days twice as fast! So
let's say you need to call off the week of Thanksgiving.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all count as TWO days each
if you call off. Guess what? Harrah's doesn't
compensate you if you work ANY of those days. Hmmm, go
figure.
Life insurance? Harrah's Joliet
offers their employees up to 4 times their annual pay for life
insurance. That means a dealer that makes $10,000 a year,
can take up to $40,000. This dealer can NOT count tokes as
income, even though they're taxed. Now take the Pit boss
making $40,000 a year. That person qualifies for $160,000 in
life insurance! Now you tell me, why is that persons life
worth more than mine? If I'm willing to pay the co-payment
for increased coverage, why is it not even offered?
So many other things to mention, but I'm
sure you all are aware of them. Let's unite! We all need
this, we need this to happen for all of us! Don't let them
scare you, vote UNION! Don't back down, vote UNION!
Dealers everywhere need you guys! Please.
Sincerely,
"Watching from the Midwest"
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