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Dealers want
tipping rule to go to state's voters
By Liz Benston <benston@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas Sun
September 07, 2007
Casino dealers, frustrated that Nevada lawmakers
wouldn't help them reverse Steve Wynn's controversial
tip-sharing policy, are preparing to take their case to
the voters.
A group of Wynn Las Vegas dealers, working outside of
their new labor union, says it will begin circulating
petitions next year to qualify a voter initiative aimed
at prohibiting a company from forcing rank-and-file
dealers to share tips with supervisors.
But first, the dealers are turning to the American Civil
Liberties Union for help in challenging a new state law
that has made voter initiatives more difficult to
pursue.
The law requires signatures of 10 percent of vote r s in
each of the state's Assembly districts to qualify a
proposal for the statewide ballot. The ACLU, which
successfully challenged a previous state law requiring
signatures in 13 of Nevada's 17 counties, says the new
law is worse than its predecessor. After a court threw
out the previous requirements as unconstitutional,
legislators passed an even higher threshold for petition
gathering.
"We appeared before the Legislature and they chose to
ignore us and hence invite a lawsuit," said Gary Peck,
executive director of the ACLU of Nevada. "It's an
egregious violation of the bedrock constitutional
principle of 'one person, one vote.' "
The requirement to win support of 10 percent of the
voters in each of the state's Assembly districts would
be particularly onerous for the dealers, who fear that
ranchers in rural Nevada could not care less about their
battle for tips.
Wynn Las Vegas' tip policy has so far survived multiple
lawsuits, labor law complaints and a union drive. It has
also won the tacit support of the state 's labor
commissioner .
The Transport Workers Union - elected in a landslide
vote by dealers in May and now trying to negotiate a
contract with Wynn behind the scenes - isn't expected to
have any success in rolling back the tip policy and was
mainly a last-ditch effort by dealers to save their
jobs.
That's why the grass-roots group that fermented the
union organizing effort in the first place - the
International Union of Gaming Employees - is stepping in
with its plan to file a voter petition to change
Nevada's tip law next year.
Some think the petition could be the dealers' last - but
best - trump card in their fight to roll back the
policy, which has become national news and a battle of
wills between the rank and file and their
forward-thinking but volatile boss.
Wynn executives had no comment on the prospect of a
ballot initiative.
The informal dealers group knows that Wynn's clout in
the Legislature would be of little use in preventing a
petition effort fueled by the support of thousands of
tipped workers in Nevada sympathetic to Wynn dealers and
concerned about the future of their own tips. But
getting there, especially because the ACLU has yet to
commit to a lawsuit or any particular plaintiff or group
of plaintiffs, is no sure bet.
To change or repeal a state law, a group could file a
ballot initiative with the secretary of state starting
Jan . 1 and have until Nov. 11, 2008 , to gather enough
signatures. The Legislature would then choose to create
a similar bill - or take no action, which would put the
matter before voters in 2010.
Besides presenting overwhelming odds, that's hardly a
speedy resolution to dealers' concerns.
By that time, the Strip will be buzzing with several new
luxury resorts and the story of how Wynn quashed
repeated attempts by his dealers to change Nevada's tip
law may be more legend than burning issue.
Not so, says Al Maurice, a Mirage dealer and director of
the gaming employees union, whose son deals at Wynn.
Maurice, who maintains an e-mail database of more than
500 people, says dealers are keeping heat on the issue
because they're convinced that other casinos nationwide
will eventually follow Wynn's example.
Liz Benston can be reached at 259-4077 or at
benston@lasvegassun.com.
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