
Several videos have been posted on You Tube that show Las Vegas culinary union employees berating tourists (Image source: FOX News)
UPDATE: October 25, 2013 Following the release of these videos where Culinary Union Local 226 members were seen regularly throwing epithets and verbal abuse at tourists entering the Cosmopolitan the union’s protests are placed on hold until Nov. 1. The team encompasses some 55,000 bartenders, maids and food servers in Las Vegas, and happens to be at chances about problems such as for instance health care, job security, compensation and even successorship, ie., what happens if Cosmopolitan gets offered to another business by Deutsche Bank at some point.
The protests have now been costing taxpayers an average of $2,600 in extra police patrols, according to the Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs, a group that is dedicated to placing an end to the union’s assaults on tourists.
Union organizers say they will resume the actions on Nov. 1, but.
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If you should be a tourist that is typical into Las Vegas, you’re most likely prepared for some financial losses, possibly some fat gain from all the fabulous eateries, potentially a taxi driver whom might drive you (illegally) from your method. But what you are probably not prepared for is being yelled at and called derogatory names simply for entering a tremendously casino that is upscale like, say, The Cosmopolitan next to Aria on the Las Vegas Strip.
But this is the tactic that Culinary Union Local 226 has been using and several say, abusing for awhile now as they continue steadily to negotiate with Cosmopolitan’s management, Deutsche Bank, in what has now dragged on into a two-year ongoing mess until a deal is finalized between the 2 parties.
Meanwhile, an organization called The Alliance to guard Nevada Jobs is causing you to Tube videos associated with slurs that are insulting publishing them, saying the union workers are endangering Las Vegas’s primary asset using their jabs: tourism.
Hurling Insults at Tourists
Using a bullhorn to intimidate guests as they strolled into The Cosmopolitan, one union protester said: ‘You and your girlfriend are a bunch of losers … especially your girlfriend.’
Needless to say, this tactic presumably being used to rush up the negotiation process with a hotel that certainly does not wish to lose valuable guests is not going over very well with either the Alliance or the tourists themselves.
‘ You don’t [settle negotiations] by calling tourists those true names and berating them when they come here to invest their money in our city,’ said Ron Futrell, spokesman for Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs.
‘They should not disrespect the individuals being going into the places,’ stated a tourist from Indiana who had been shown a video clip of the union protestors by way of a local TV place.
‘I think that’s terrible. I think that’s definitely terrible,’ said another tourist, that one visiting from Canada. ‘You know we don’t want difficulty … you’re right here to possess a great time.’
‘First Amendment Rights’
To the Culinary Union employees, apparently berating people who have absolutely nothing related to your contract that is actual falls the heading of ‘civil disobedience,’ nonetheless. In a statement, their formal place was this, per Geoconda Arguello-Kline, the group’s Secretary Treasurer:
‘Workers at the Cosmopolitan were in contract negotiations with Deutsche Bank for over two years. The recent disobediences that are civil rallies, and pickets are exercises of workers’ First Amendment rights and part of the struggle for the Las Vegas Dream. Cosmopolitan workers are fighting for the opportunity to provide for their families, something all Las Vegas workers deserve.’
Of course, in a tourism-dependent town nevertheless struggling to regain its footing after almost six years of recession, one could argue that 226’s First Amendment rights aren’t nearly as pressing as making sure word gets out that Las Vegas is still an enjoyable destination to visit.
‘They continue to give Las Vegas a black eye’ said Dave McGowan, state director for the Alliance to Safeguard Nevada Jobs. ‘We have obtained hundreds of emails, phone calls, and messages from concerned residents asking what they can do to stop this harassment…and simply cannot enable the actions of these big labor bosses to wreak havoc on our already fragile economy.’
Take that, you selfish, greedy union losers. We’re just exercising our First Amendment liberties when we say that, of course.
Nyc Gambling Ring Allegedly Behind Ohio Roulette Scam
A small grouping of alleged hustlers from NY and NJ have been charged with cheating at roulette at various Ohio casinos. (Image source: The Blade)
Friends of gamblers from this new York City area has allegedly been running roulette scams at four Ohio casinos within the last year, but it appears that their run is at a conclusion. At least 13 individuals are arrested as an element of the scheme, and a whole lot more arrests could be arriving the near future.
‘This is a really organized band of about 70 people,’ stated Karen Huey, manager of enforcement for the Ohio Casino Control Commission. ‘They travel the nation. They have been identified in 18 states running this scam.’
Substantial Ring Involved
Four men were awaiting sentencing in a Cincinnati court, while there are additionally a quantity of outstanding arrest warrants for those who did maybe not show up for their scheduled court hearings. The people who are arrested have all originate from the New York area many from the Bronx, and some from nj with most originally hailing from Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.
The scam began at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, where six individuals were arrested, but five later neglected to appear in court. Other gambling enterprises that have been hit as being a area of the scheme were the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland, the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, and the Horseshoe Casino in Cincinnati.
Colors Up Scheme Used
The plot is really what’s known as a ‘color-up’ scam. In real time roulette games, players usually do not normally use standard casino chips to try out; with many players at a table and countless feasible wagers, it would become impossible to keep track of which wagers participate in which players. Instead, each player is given chips of an unique color, using the denomination of the chips being determined as soon as the player buys them.
The color-up scheme efforts to take advantage of this having a player purchase chips at the $1 level. They will play for a while that is short and then cash out. However, they’ll discretely hang on to some of their roulette chips which are designed to never leave the roulette table and simply take them to some other certain area of the casino, such while the restroom.
Since there are not any surveillance cameras in restroom areas in a casino, the initial player are able to pass the roulette chips off to a partner, that will then take them right back to the roulette table. Here, they will buy chips at a higher denomination perhaps $25 and then arrange to have the color that is same employed by the partner. After playing for a couple of minutes, they are going to cash the chips out gained from their partner, enabling chips purchased for $1 to be redeemed for $25 each. Using large teams, the scam can be performed also more easily, as the players involved know that one group purchases cheap chips of several colors, and then a second team will make sure to get those colors when they later visit the table.
While the scheme may seem inelegant, it will have the potential to be quite lucrative. The team might net $1,000 to $2,000 in under an hour in a typical operation. In one example, two scammers at the Hollywood Casino Columbus were confronted and ran out, leaving behind what could have been $2,700 in unlawful gains.
Based on Ohio Casino Control Commission chief legal counsel John Barron, the state of Ohio desires to aggressively prosecute these situations so as to make an example of the scammers.
‘These are professional cheaters who threaten the integrity of gaming in Ohio,’ Barron said.
Huey says there has been 101 documented situations of cheating via many systems that are different Ohio casinos since land gambling ended up being legalized in that state. Nearly all these have emanated from the Cleveland Horseshoe, simply due to its having the foot traffic that is most of any into the state.