Connecticut: Result At Foxwoods Could Lead Downhill
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According to the Courant.com:
MASHANTUCKET - Only a handful of dealers and labor leaders remained outside a ballroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino early Sunday morning when election results became official: Table game dealers had voted by a wide margin to become the casino's first unionized employees.
At 2 a.m., the celebration by the United Auto Workers union and its supporters in an out-of-the-way hallway at one of the world's largest casinos seemed muted after a long and often contentious fight.
One floor above, the piped-in pop music and steady stream of gamblers continued. The only cheer one exhausted union supporter could muster at the late hour was: "It's over. It's over."
The tired reactions belied the importance of Saturday's historic vote for tribal casinos and organized labor nationwide. Both sides had been watching the run-up to the election closely, and its results could have major ramifications for each.
"The implications are sweeping," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
The UAW spent six months organizing an estimated 3,000 dealers in a faceoff against an aggressive anti-union campaign by Foxwoods and its owner, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. But in the end, management's efforts were unsuccessful: 1,289 dealers voted to be represented by the UAW; 852 dealers opposed the proposal...click to continue.
