Fact: Caesar’s wanted to hire 22 seasonal dealers on a permanent basis and promote 5 part-time dealers to full time. These 22 dealers are employees who had been laid off, and were re-hired on a seasonal basis, and would now have permanent part-time positions.

The UAW preferred to stand on technicality, and limited the number of seasonal dealers hired to 5. This is based on a “1 for 1” provision of a previous agreement that required us to match the number of new full-time positions to new part-time positions. This would mean that 17 seasonal employees that the Company wanted to hire would no longer have jobs, due to the UAW’s inflexibility.

Who was really working for the dealers’ best interest at the table?

Click here for the bargaining update from the session where this was discussed.

Fact: All of our full-time, eligible employees, including dealers, receive healthcare benefits. We have continuously improved our healthcare benefits by offering more options and making changes based on feedback from our team members. For example, based on team member feedback, we brought back an HMO option, added an on-site wellness center and offer free generic prescriptions at our on-site pharmacy, the only gaming company in Atlantic City to offer this benefit to its employees.

And we continue to provide new ways to help employees save on medical costs. For example, the new program “Express Scripts” allows employees to save more money when they opt to use the mail order program.

Fact:Dealers have not been demoted, but schedules were reduced in some instances in an effort to preserve jobs. As you know, Atlantic City is experiencing the worst economic environment since gaming was legalized in the 70s. As a result, Harrah’s made the difficult decision to reduce employment in Atlantic City in light of the loss of customer business over the past year. Those decisions were not made lightly, and we made a conscious decision to look at all avenues of cost cutting prior to eliminating any jobs. But we’re pleased that we have been able to bring more dealers back to full-time as the summer season business has picked up. It is our hope that business will continue to improve and that we will have the opportunity to restore the schedules of more team members.

Fact: In an effort to preserve as many jobs as possible in this difficult economic climate, some of our full-time employees were rescheduled to part-time. Unfortunately, because there were fewer customers at the tables, fewer dealers were needed on the casino floor. We believe that these scheduling changes, which allow us to keep more people working, are preferable to further job elimination.

Fact: The Company has temporarily suspended the 401k match for all employees in the entire company, as many large companies have done. We believe some short-term sacrifices in benefits are preferable to eliminating more jobs. Our team members as a whole supported this difficult decision, which saved hundreds of jobs. However, the UAW bargained over this issue for months, thinking dealers should be exempt from changes instituted among all employees. This issue eventually came to an impasse – which means it was implemented without agreement at the bargaining table.

It is important to note that once the economy improves the management will restore the 401k match to participating employees.

Fact: Gary Loveman has never made $15 million in salary, much less $40 million. When our shareholders approved the sale of our company to new owners, many team members and employee 401k participants also earned significant returns on those investments. These investment returns were one-time payments when the Company was purchased by two private equity companies, Apollo and TPG which in many instances has taken years to accumulate or vest.

Fact: Our track record of two years and 50 good faith bargaining sessions speaks for itself. The lack of progress in the negotiations has been significantly impacted by the UAW’s emphasis on lengthy interim bargaining about necessary changes that are being implemented Company wide. Significant time has also been dedicated to educating the UAW on the realities of the hospitality business vs. automotive manufacturing. Over the years, we have successfully reached agreements with many other unions, and we are proud to be a good union employer.

We will not, however, be bullied into accepting a contract that is not reasonable, economically feasible and allows us to remain competitive. We take our responsibility for our team members – not just the dealers – seriously, and we need to ensure that our business can continue to support all of our team members and AC community.

Fact: Accusing someone of breaking the law is a very serious allegation and not one that should be made to advance an agenda. Whenever our employees have fairly and properly elected to be represented by a union, we have accepted that decision and bargained in good faith – and in all other cases, worked collaboratively and successfully for many years.

With the election at Bally’s, however, many of our employees who do not speak English as their first language voluntarily came forward and reported that they did not understand what they were voting for and would have voted differently. It is our right, and our duty, to protect these team members.

We did not believe the election was fair and therefore exercised our legal rights on behalf of our employees and challenged it. So far, no court has found that we have violated the law.