Wynn was first to give part of pot to supervisors
Steve Wynn shocked the Las Vegas casino industry four years ago by implementing a plan requiring Wynn Las Vegas dealers to share a portion of their tips with immediate supervisors.
Strip competitors, wary of stirring up trouble with employees and careful not to inspire union organizing efforts at their properties, quickly told dealers that they had no intention of following in Wynn’s footsteps.
And yet, Caesars Palace — a property where union-represented dealers are at loggerheads with management about changes in benefits and working conditions they don’t like — recently adopted language in its contract with dealers that allows the casino to impose the same tip-sharing policy as Wynn.
Representatives of Caesars parent company Harrah’s Entertainment reiterated that they have no immediate plans to redistribute the tips of Caesars dealers. The new language, however, would cement the company’s authority to do so at any time, they say.
“We have always maintained that we had the authority to manage the tip pool,” even before Wynn enacted his plan, said Marybel Batjer, vice president of public policy and communications for Harrah’s. “When Wynn acted upon it, we had not even contemplated it”.
But the world has changed since 2006. The following year, dealers — angered by the tip policy and its reduction in their take-home pay — made Wynn the first major casino since 2001 to see a successful vote for union representation.
