SugarHouse Casino union-backing employees launch ad campaign

A small but vocal group of SugarHouse Casino employees have launched a new advertising campaign aimed at getting public support for the formation of a union. Along with Unite Here Local 54, they've launched a billboard campaign with the headline: "We work hard, we deserve better."

The ad appears at the SEPTA subway station at Spring Garden Street between Front and Second streets. The ads were paid for by Unite Here.

Dermot Delude-Dix, a 28-year-old player service agent at SugarHouse and the union group's main organizer, said they're "fighting for respect, fighting for a fair [attendance] system and fighting for a decent raise." The group wants "decent stable jobs that you can rely on and have a future in," he said.

"Is it a real job that you can stick with or is it going to be like a Walmart job?" he said, noting that workers at Harrah's Philadelphia have a lucrative pension retirement plan rather than a 401(k).

So far, 19 workers have joined the union organizing committee out of the casino's 1166 full time employees. But Delude-Dix says plenty more feel scared to do so fearing backlash from management.

"People know that management is against it and they're afraid they'll lose their jobs if they support a union," said Delude-Dix. "People will directly say 'listen I know that we need a union, but I'm scared to sign anything.'

SugarHouse General Manager Wendy Hamilton tells a very different story — one where all employees get at least 20 days vacation and 80 percent of employees elect to get company health benefits. She also said the turnover rate is 10.4 percent, "one of lowest I've ever seen in a casino."

While it's clear that casino management doesn't want a union, Hamilton says "whatever our position is doesn't really matter because the only people who get to decide are our employees."

"We enjoy a wonderful, fruitful productive relationship with our employees and we want it to stay that way," she said, also noting that SugarHouse offers a 401(k) vested match from the moment employment starts, domestic partner benefits and tuition reimbursement.

In fact, SugarHouse won the Philadelphia Business Journal's Best Places to Work awards four years in a row. That is calculated through employee surveys.

Another point of contention is the credit system for attendance. Delude-Dix says rank-and-file workers get six credits and four SugarHouse days when they start their jobs. Each time you call in sick, you lose a credit or a SugarHouse day. Lateness costs half of a credit. Once you lose all your points, you're terminated. Employees gain one point each calendar year.

"Even if I had a doctor's note, I'd still lose the credit," said Delude-Dix. "Even if an employee's child was suddenly sick, I'd lose the credit."

But Hamilton said that the credit system is a way to weed out undependable employees who tend to call out just minutes before their shifts. "If you deplete all your credits and SugarHouse days, at that point, you're not very dependable."

Delude-Dix says that SugarHouse has been vehemently anti-union for years. They force employees into "brainwashing" meetings to warn against union organizing and even deliver anti-union messages during the on-boarding training process for new hires, he said.

"They always emphasize that if we join a union, we can be replaced," he said.

SugarHouse has contracted with casino consultant Kulture, which many believe are anti-union. Hamilton said that Kulture helps SugarHouse deliver a message called "Just the Facts" where they tell employees what to expect from "aggressive" pro-union supporters and discuss their rights as workers.

"I feel like we're more productive when we work together, rather than introducing a third party who has different motivations," said Hamilton. "It becomes a more complicated relationship."

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal