Rodney Butler, the new chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut, says there will be no more layoffs at Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods.

The tribe laid off over 700 employees amid a decline in gaming revenues. "Have you ever had to lay off your cousin, or your sister, or your brother?" Butler, whose father was among those affected, told The Norwich Bulletin in an interview. "I can’t imagine that anyone knows how that feels and how it impacts you psychologically."

"It's unfortunate. But we still have 10,000 employees and hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll," Butler said in a separate interview with The New London Day. "I don't know of many companies in the state that can say that."

The tribe is renegotiating over $2 billion in debt associated with its gaming enterprise. "We’ve survived much worse," Butler told the Bulletin. "We’ve survived attempted genocide. If we’ve survived that we can certainly survive an economic storm."

Get the Story:
New Mashantucket Pequot chairman sees need for stability, healing (The Norwich Bulletin 1/8)
Butler says he's focused on ensuring Mashantucket's stability (The New London Day 1/8)