There is some misperception
about "Status Quo" and what it
means.
First off, you are in "status
quo" right now, without a Union. Yup. However, the "status quo"
can be changed at any given moment. As an example:
Today, you pool your tokes with the Dealers only. That is the
"status quo" for today.
Tomorrow, management decides to take your tokes for
redistribution. That will be the "status quo" tomorrow.
Now, when you VOTE THE UNION IN, you "lock in" the "status quo"
that day. The key here is that it is LOCKED IN. From that point
on EVERYTHING must stay the same as far as your working
conditions and such goes. The ONLY way anything can change is IF
you Dealers, as the Union, agree to the changes. They can NOT
come down with a memo stating something like, "From now on every
Dealer will be paid 1/2 of what they were being paid prior to
this memo." That would be a violation of Federal Law BECAUSE you
have voted the Union in.
So, let's say you have voted the Union in and you have locked in
"status quo". Well it is time for open enrollment for your
health insurance, and the premiums are going up again and the
coverage is dropping from what you had the day you voted the
Union in. Well guess what? Those changes will NOT affect you or
any other member of the newly formed bargaining unit BECAUSE you
have locked in "status quo". However, if the premiums are going
to be lower and the coverage is going to be better, the dealers
in the bargaining unit MAY approve of the changes and accept the
better benefit package.
How can you lose by locking in "status quo"? You
can't. The only thing you will do is gain. You may however
negotiate away things, but that will be up to the bargaining
unit to determine that by either ratifying (approving) the
proposed agreement with the changes made in it.
Do you like the way things are today? Some of the things? Can
you live with what you have today? Would you like to protect
what you now have? If you answered "yes" to ANY of these
questions, then vote for the Union to lock in "status quo" and
the bleeding will stop.
Think of it like this, having locked in "status quo" is nearly
the same as having a contract. That's right, because NOTHING can
change without the bargaining unit's approval.
How long can "status quo" be locked in? As long as both sides
are negotiating in good faith, it can last forever. Granted, you
may not see any gains while in "status quo", but you definitely
will so no losses.
Have things been getting better or worse each year? Insurance
premiums? 401(k)? Have you been getting regular raises? Is
everyone treated equally?
Yes, locking in "status quo" may also lock in things that are
not so good, such as at The Wynn. They locked in toke
redistribution. That fight is far from over though. But, that
was what the "status quo" was when they voted the Union in.
Realize that if Steve-O wins the court battles
and it is found that the casinos can take your tokes for
redistribution, I don't care what ANY letter says, they can take
your tokes as soon as the gavel drops and be secure knowing that
the courts will uphold it.
Also realize, the casino has to give a ten day notice to their
employees of any major working condition changes. So, they may
say something like, "To be fair to all frontline employees, and
in light of the recent court rulings, starting 10 days from now
we will be collecting all tokes from all non-union employees for
what we believe is a fair distribution."
Do NOT think that you have 10 days to vote the Union in, because
that is NOT the case. The Union MUST first petition the NLRB for
a secret ballot election. Once the petition is filed, the
election must be held within 44 days (34 days beyond the 10 day
notification given the employees by management). So, even if you
have the petition filed the day after the company gave
notification that they were going to implement a new toke
redistribution system, you would NOT be able to stop them.
You see, the Law allows the company to make any changes they
have "planned and announced", even after a petition has been
filed. Now if they didn't make their announcement PRIOR to the
petition being filed, it could be argued they are making the
change to "punish" the workers for filing and the change would
probably not hold up. Besides, if they tried that, they know it
would mean that they would most definitely lose the election.
In the case of Caesars Palace, they tried to give
us back things before our election. They tried to sway the vote
that way. The ONLY thing it did was improve what we locked in
with "status quo" on election day. One thing they tried to do to
persuade us was to raise the amount a customer could bet for the
Dealers. It was a significant raise too. Prior to this change a
customer could only bet $25 straight up for us on roulette. The
change they made raised it to $200 straight up. That took it
from $875 to $7000 which we could take down from a straight up
bet. Then IF we had voted "no" to the Union, the next day they
could have dropped it back to the way it was. But, because we
won our election we locked in the new betting limits under
"status quo"
Some may say, "If we vote the union in they can place signs on
the table stating there will be no tips allowed."
W-R-O-N-G!!!!!!!!!! You see, the ONLY way they can do that is IF
they did it BEFORE the election was won. IF they tried that they
would know they would lose the election, so they would not do
that. And, because once you vote the Union in, they CAN NOT make
ANY "unilateral changes" to your working conditions, and placing
a sign on the tables saying no tips will be allowed IS a
unilateral change in working conditions, therefore violates
Federal Law.
Well, I hope I have explained what "status quo" is. They will
try to tell you, "You have status quo already". Which is true.
Status quo is what the current working conditions are at any
given time. But remember, once you vote the Union in, you will
"LOCK IN STATUS QUO" and no unilateral changes can be made,
period.
If you have ANY questions about "status quo",
please post them here and I will provide you with the TRUTH. Do
NOT listen to the lies of management. If we were to lie here,
that would constitute a violation of Law, and there is no way we
will risk having any election turned over for such a stupid
reason. You will find no lies here. Nothing but the TRUTH will
be posted by any Moderator. IF another poster posts something
which is not true, we will be quick to correct it.
Now, go sign a card and send it in. You have NOTHING to lose. If
you do not, you can lose everything because you have not locked
in "status quo".
