ATLANTIC CITY - Dealers at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino want to drop the United Auto Workers as their bargaining agent, a federal labor board official confirmed Wednesday.

At least 30 percent of dealers signed a petition to decertify the union, indicating a number of dealers no longer want to be organized by the union and that some UAW support, at least at Trump Plaza, may have eroded.

The petition also triggers the federal labor board to conduct a hearing and decide whether a new election should be held at the casino, said Dorothy Moore-Duncan, regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Philadelphia.

Dealers would then have the chance to vote on whether or not they still want to be represented by the UAW.

Moore-Duncan declined to say exactly how many names were on the petition, which was filed Monday. She said that correspondence regarding the petition was sent to the UAW and Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., which owns Trump Plaza.

A UAW spokesman could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.
Trump Entertainment spokesman Tom Hickey had no comment, other than to confirm a decertification request was made with the NLRB.

The Detroit-based UAW first held elections at Trump Plaza in March 2007, with dealers voting 324-149 to unionize. At the time, the casino wanted a new election, alleging the first one was tainted by a media event held days prior to the vote.

Since then, Trump Plaza has refused to bargain and is appealing a federal labor board ruling saying that it must. The appeal was filed in September 2008 in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit.

The appeal process would likely put a decertification election on hold or the federal labor board could decide to dismiss the decertification petition entirely, Moore-Duncan said.

"I haven't looked to see what impact the court case has on this," she added. Beyond Trump Plaza, the UAW has been unable to secure first-ever contracts for dealers it represents at Bally's Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City and Tropicana Casino and Resort. The union hopes to improve wages, medical benefits and pensions.

Philip Harvey, a Rutgers University professor of economics and law who studies unions, said decertification by dealers would be a significant turning point for the UAW's organizing ability in Atlantic City.

"It's a sign that something's brewing and certainly not a good sign for the union," Harvey said. "It suggests that the tactics of the employer have been successful."

Trying to unionize dealers all over again also may prove difficult, Harvey added.

"It's an awful time for a union to try and be hanging tough," he said. "It's easy for employers to get the workers they want, and most people are just happy to be there."

Staff writer Donald Wittkowski contributed to this report.
E-mail Erik Ortiz:
EOrtiz@pressofac.com