Column: Union sees jackpot at Mashantucket casino

Tuesday, July 10, 2007  

"It's hard to think of a business in Connecticut more ripe for a labor union than Foxwoods Resort Casino.

The jobs cannot be outsourced. The casino owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, control a gambling monopoly. There are 10,000 Foxwoods employees in a region where many can no longer afford to live.

Some workers are so angry at their employer that they created a website, madatfoxwoods.com, to let the world know - hardly the publicity one wants in the hospitality business.

Then there's all that gambling money flowing in. In May, Foxwoods earned $90,511.12 an hour in slot machine profit.

It's easy to see why Foxwoods President John A. O'Brien says that organizing by the United Auto Workers would not be "in the best interest" of "the tribe." Tribal members annually collect six-figure stipends from all that gambling money."

Get the Story:
Rick Green: Unions See Jackpot At Foxwoods (The Hartford Courant 7/10)
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