Bosses at United Auto Workers HQ may be wishing they hadn’t passed up the chance to organize dealers at Wynn Las Vegas instead of going after what looked like easy pickings in Atlantic City. After two lopsided victories, the UAW was handed a narrow defeat at Trump Marina, losing 49% to 51%. The union vows to press on elsewhere in A.C. but this rejection is almost certain to sap the momentum of what started out looking like a pro-union avalanche. Execs at the next casino on the list, Bally’s Atlantic City have to be breathing a mite easier.
The UAW is claiming it lost due to foul and underhanded behavior by Trump minions. Considering that the shoe was on the other foot when Trump Plaza dealers voted the UAW in, I’m inclined to be just as skeptical when the UAW plays that harp as when casino execs do it. The win is an undoubtedly welcome bit of good news for Trump Entertainment, whose three casinos brought up the rear in the latest set of year-over-year market comparisons, though Trump’s people (following a long-standing Trump tradition) blamed it on The Other Guys with their eeeeeeeeeeeeevil promotional gimmicks. Comps? Coupons? Giveaways? What will those nefarious competitors think of next to separate The Donald from money that is rightfully his?
Incidentally, in the aftermath of the TWU’s sweeping victory, anybody care to lay odds on how long Steve Wynn’s chummy new "I’m your guy" persona will last?
Attila the Yung’s rampage continues: Meanwhile, over at the Atlantic City Tropicana, new owner Columbia Sussex continues to wage a reign of terror. Money quote: "(Employees) come to work every day, they say, not knowing if they’ll still have a job." Also, the story reveals that Columbia Sussex, operating under the scorched-earth philosophy of CEO William Yung III, has sacked the entire limo department. Mind you, the A.C. Trop was the economic engine that kept former owner Aztar Corp. going, accounting for over 50% of the company’s cash flow in recent quarters. If this is Yung’s idea of how to run a profitable casino, I shudder to think what he’s going to do at the far-less-lucrative Las Vegas Tropicana. It’s very rare that you’d hear CEOs like Harrah’s Entertainment’s Gary Loveman or Pinnacle Entertainment’s Dan Lee upbraiding a rival in public, as both recently did to Yung, but it’s warranted in light of his ongoing depredations.
Jack(ass) Mormon: Small wonder that major casino expansion is planned for Wendover, smack-dab on the Nevada/Utah border. Just think of all the malleable young Mormons who are undoubtedly pouring across the borderline, inspired by the example set by Nevada’s number-one party animal, who at least claims to be Mormon when a few electoral votes are to be gained. Or when it gives you a chance to go a-sailin’ on the high seas to audition a harem of ’sister wives’ … see the fourth picture from the top … and strictly uphold core LDS tenets. And to think that presidential candidacies have been sunk by far less.
Den of vice: There might — just might — be Third World gambling halls worse than this vile pit in South Carolina. But I don’t think so.
