Quote Originally Posted by desertrunner View Post
Over the last 20+ years, Ive seen it mane times.

Lets deep dive into this as you two are the lay persons that only know the surface info. And Druff, respectfully, youve never been in a union before and only know one side.

Whats typical non union-

Constant high employee turn over rate gives each employer roughly a 25% REDUCTION in productivity. Employer has to constantly advertise, onboard, outfit, orientate, train etc...all to lose those employees to an bigger and better offer less than a year away. Non-union places do not offer proper training and continuous education. Employee is more of a liability vs an asset.

Whats typical union- Pay the employees what they are worth, offer good benefits and pay. This new employee will turn into a long term investment and will become more of an asset vs a liability. Productivity goes up with employee retention and that 25% loss in productivity goes down.

Union- When there is a work place violation, contract dispute or internal grievance- It can get handled internally and more cost efficiently when the union lawyers and employer can work towards a solution.

Non-union- The employee has to hire a lawyer to sue the employer. This is more expensive and time consuming.

An example I know very well- The two "Right to Work" states that do not recognize unions are Arizona and Utah. Every month I see fire departments in both Arizona and Utah beg to hire firefighter/paramedics and they will get them, for a bit. And then the cycle starts- these FF/PMs with real experience mostly all leave and go to California and Nevada for the better pay, benefits and retirements. This continuous cycle runs every year over and over. Most medics go to Orange County Fire, LA County Fire, City of Las Vegas, Clark County Fire and City of Henderson. They want better pay, better benefits, better retirement and a contract. One year, the state of Utah lost many medics to LA County Fire alone during a major hiring swept. And those Utah departments lost all of the money they laid down to send those employees to medic school. All of that time, money, on-boarding, outfitting just go right out the door to a union department.

In the end, "its cheaper to keep her" and invest in your employees as long term investments and embrace the union carrot that's in front of them.

Now watch all of the hotel service employees in AZ and UT leave for Vegas- its simply "follow the money".

Quote Originally Posted by Phinnster View Post

Good news?
Yes, good news.

So you're complaining about how expensive Vegas is, yet think unskilled Casino employees making $35/hr is a good thing? How do you think they can afford to pay those wages? Oh wait I know, by raising prices that's how.
NO, I was never "complaining" about that, like most people, you took my words and twisted them to fit your agenda.

Let me clarify - My gripe is with the casino CEOs who raise prices and fees so they can get their self-entitled millions and then bounce. "Unskilled casino employees making $35 an hour is a good thing"- I never said that and have not seem that wage or skill level posted anywhere, where did you see that or did you just make it up? Raising prices- They could OR shift the entitled CEO's multi million dollar bonus money back to labor, say give the CEO just 5 million instead of the intended 10 million- he will sqweek by on that.

Also dont forget, contracts are bargained for and negotiated on BOTH sides of the table. The union can want want want, but not always get. Management side can only give up what they can afford, the problem is labor also knows the books as well at the table. Both sides come to the table well prepared.

Not to mention substandard Vegas service will only get worse once more Union employes are laid off to manage increased Labor costs.
Wrong and false. There is no auto set standard and union employees have been fired in the past. Performance issues can always be handled internally. Again, good employees follow good money and crap stays crap. If an employee has issues, they will be dealt with internally.

Also, dont forget, most of Las Vegas kitchen and service workers have already been union for decades now, this is not something completely new to Las Vegas and Clark County.

Remember- Good employees stay and become long term assets and keep productivity UP. Crap employees dont stay, high turnover hurts the business and become liabilities and keep the 25% in productivity constantly down.

Perfect example- If PFA was a hotel in Las Vegas...

Good employees I'd hire and retain- The Boz, Micky Crimm, Country678, Frank Rizzo, FTJesus, Dive Bar Dave, Split This, tgull and maybe One dollar "cry baby" box car. We would also hire LOL WOW and fit him in some where.

Bad/shit employees that are a liability- Sonatine, BCR, Sloppy Hoe, Richard Brodie, Les and the other cancer members here.

Why does Las Vegas and Clark County Fire want paramedics so bad? These "Paramedic Rescue " vans are major money makers. The money is in the EMS transport business. Below is Rescue 218 out of station 18, one of the busiest stations in the nation. So busy, they now have R218 as a second unit out of 18's.

Proof- Clark County Fire Department Launches Nationwide Recruitment Effort They are now grabbing people from all over the nation. And why not- No state income tax, No Social Security deduction and the employer (Clark County) pays 100% of your NV PERS retirement. Too sweet of a deal to pass up vs the non-union "right to work" state screwing you for an entire career.

From NV PERS- "Nevada's Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) offers a unique structure where employers, particularly in the public sector, may cover the full employee contribution, meaning employees do not have to contribute out-of-pocket for retirement." Right to Work/anti union states Arizona and Utah do not offer this.

A joke told in the industry- You can work at the Bullhead City FD in Arizona OR go across the river to Clark County/Laughlin and double your pay.

Again, medics leave the non-union "Right to Work" states for Las Vegas and So Cal. The "Big 3" you always want- Union, Overtime and Pension. Why not double your pay, benefits and lifestyle?

How high do you think the turnover is at Apple? How about Microsoft? IBM? Oracle? Last time I checked none of them were unionized. That's what happens when you you are educated, skilled and motivated you don't need a union to protect you. Up here in Commie Canada where I live the largest group of employes in the country are unionized government workers. One of the reasons this country has such massive debt. Lazy postal workers who only work 3 or 4 days a week but get paid for 5, far left useless teachers who get summers, Xmas and a week in March off, school custodians who spend more time getting high than doing their job or the service workers at the unemployment office who have their "window closed" sign up every half hour so they can browse the internet. I know this because I have close friends who work in every one of those occupations. One was even the Chief Union steward for his local. I was also a steward at one of the companies I worked at when I was younger and stupid. The union was rock solid with heavy employee support. With every contract we threatened to strike unless we were given a substantial wage increase, with every employee caught stealing time, drunk on the job, manipulating their time cards, etc. grievances were filed and jobs were saved. Not a single person was ever fired while I worked there.That is until the company had enough and moved to Kentucky. Union gone and 300+ jobs lost. Yay unions!

BTW- How are the casinos supposed to get rid of underperforming workers when they are protected by the union? Also when I referenced substandard service getting worse it wasn't in relation to an employees ability to do the job it was referencing the common practice of employers laying off staff shortly after their labor costs rise due to higher wages. See fast food restaurants in California who are now using order touchscreens and being automated which is putting people out of work. That ridiculous minimum wage increase isn't so great afterall.

The $35/hr is in the AP article you claimed was good news:

"The latest contracts secured a historic 32% bump in pay over the life of the five-year contract. Union casino workers will earn an average $35 hourly, including benefits, by the end of it."


Just so we're clear I have no love for the Casino executives either, they desperately focus on hitting quarterly numbers while missing the big picture. Increasing costs for tourists is turning them off and they are going to miss their numbers on a regular basis if they don't make some changes. As others have said, people can just visit their locals and save money.