Union Requests Strikes at Five Atlantic City Casino

Bob McDevitt, President of Local 54, who claims that workers made sacrifices once the casino industry’s chips were down and he wants these reversed.
Atlantic City is facing action that is industrial five of its eight casinos, as employees voted overwhelmingly to hit on July 1 unless work contract negotiations can be resolved.
Members of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union were 96 percent and only the walkout at Bally’s, Caesars, Harrah’s while the Tropicana. The union had already voted to authorize a strike at Carl Icahn’s Trump Taj Mahal last month, although it is not clear whether it’s going to be included in the July 1 action.
Meanwhile, Borgata, Golden Nugget, and Resorts have been exempted because negotiations are progressing, the union said.
Sacrifices Made In Atlantic City
‘Today thousands of workers from Tropicana, Caesars, Bally’s and Harrah’s voted to authorize a strike on July 1 when they don’t have a fair agreement,’ said Bob McDevitt. ‘we have told the ongoing companies that we can be found days, evenings, and weekends to negotiate.
‘The ball’s in their court, he added. ‘They need to offer these employees a contract that is fair. We threw in the towel a great deal when times were bad, now they need to give back to us. that they are making money,’
The union is aggrieved as it believes workers have actually agreed to make sacrifices within the last few years although the casino industry has skilled financial hardships, which it wants reversed. Despite the town’s well-publicized economic problems, its casino industry seemingly have stabilized.
25 % of Atlantic City’s gambling enterprises have closed down over the past few years therefore the saturation that previously affected the market has eased, with general profits up 40 percent year that is last 2014.
Five-year Wage Freeze
‘These five employers clearly are not in touch with what their workers are feeling,’ McDevitt told the Associated Press. ‘What is going on at the table is an insult. The time before a strike vote, Tropicana offered a wage freeze that is five-year. The before! day’
The union’s grip with the city’s two Icahn-controlled properties is well known. The United States Supreme Court recently tossed out the union’s appeal of a lowered court ruling that permitted the Taj to break its contract to secure a bankruptcy deal. Both the Taj and the Tropicana are the scene of union demonstrations, as a result.
But Tony Rodio, president of Tropicana Entertainment, which operates the Tropicana and the Taj Mahal, told the AP that the business has been doing its most useful for workers.
‘Our workers have benefited from increased hours, increased gratuities and work security while 33 percent of this market’s 12 casinos have been forced to close and thousands have lost their jobs,’ he said.
‘It should additionally be noted that since growing from bankruptcy this year, current ownership has not withdrawn one cent of investment from Tropicana Atlantic City while continuing to risk millions within an uncertain market.’
Caesars Bankruptcy Judge Cuts Casino Giant Some Slack, Creditors’ Lawsuits Put in Ice
Bankruptcy judge grants Caesars Entertainment respite from two legal actions that could transform casino chain into ‘one of the largest business messes of our time.’ (Image: cnbc.com)
Caesars Entertainment (CEC) has been dealt a break in its ongoing and bankruptcy that is increasingly messy. The company is attempting to put its main operating unit, Caesars Entertainment running Company (CEOC), through chapter 11 bankruptcy in a bid to reorganize its $18 billion debt load. But a bankruptcy judge in Chicago this week halted two creditor legal actions which could have dragged parent CEC on to bankruptcy also.
On Wednesday Judge Benjamin Goldgar offered the embattled casino giant 74 days respite from the litigation spearheaded by CEOC’s junior creditors to provide Caesars time to work a deal out with all its creditors.
The creditors that are junior led by Appaloosa Management and Oaktree Capital Group, state they will have claims worth $12.6 billion, an amount that could cripple CEC. These creditors accuse CEC of fraudulently transferring many of CEOC’s best assets to CEC and a tangled internet of subsidiaries for the advantageous asset of its controlling private equity backers, Apollo Global and TPG.
They argue that CEC has developed a ‘good Caesars’ and a ‘bad Caesars,’ one to own the valuable and properties that are iconic one to support the financial obligation.
Corporate Mess
A recent court examiner’s report agreed with this assessment after analyzing 80 million papers associated with the company’s financial affairs.
The examiner, ex-Watergate prosecutor Richard Davis, thinks that sometime in 2012 Apollo and TPG began a strategy of weakening CEOC and strengthening CEC and other subsidiaries in preparation for CEOC’s bankruptcy. Davis also claims CEOC was perhaps insolvent as soon as 2008. Caesars has denied the allegations while branding the report ‘subjective bondibet casino affiliates.’
Lawyers for CEOC appealed earlier into the week for Judge Goldgar to place the situations on hold they were close to reaching consensual agreement with all creditors on a reorganization plan for CEOC that would include a $4 billion contribution from CEC because they believed.
This contribution was threatened by the lawsuits, they argued, on which judgments were imminent. The rulings could produce ‘one of the biggest corporate messes of our time,’ they warned.
29 Deadline august
But attorneys for Appaloosa and Oaktree argued that the lawsuits were placing pressure on CEC and Apollo and TPG to negotiate and that this was a thing that is positive.
‘The purpose is not to provide the debtors and Caesars an opportunity to avoid negotiations after which at confirmation cram an agenda down on the second-lien note holders,’ the judge warned in granting the reprieve.
Caesars now has until August 29 to negotiate itself away from a spot that is extremely tight.
$40 Million Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Andrew Caspersen had Gambling Addiction
Andrew Caspersen, that is accused of attempting to bilk investors out of $150 million, and gambling away 40 million of other folks’s cash. (Image: wsj.com)
A man who swindled friends and family out of almost $40 million was in the grip of uncontrollable gambling addiction, according to his lawyer.
Former Wall Street executive Andrew Caspersen, 39, is accused of using his Ivy League connections to defraud investors, including a charity foundation and their mother that is own of tens of millions.
But this was not a case of Wall Street greed, his attorney, Paul Shechtman, insisted, but of ‘addiction and mental infection.’ In certain circumstances, courts will consider addiction that is gambling be a mitigating factor in a crime.
Casperson, who made $3.6 million an as a partner of private equity firm pjt partners, is wall street royalty; the son of billionaire financier, finn m. w. caspersen year. Caspersen senior committed suicide in 2009 while dealing with charges of tax evasion.
Schechtman is concerned that his client has been characterized by the press as a privileged and banker that is greedy while, in fact, his actions were driven by his pathological gambling addiction and, said Schechtman, he had ‘every intention’ of paying everybody else back.
Risky Stock Trades
The court heard that Caspersen’s gambling began at gambling enterprises and sports betting, and expanded into an addiction to making high-risk, and ultimately disastrous stock trades for tens of vast amounts. He’s squandered more than $20 million of his very own money and is essentially broke, said Shechtman.
In mid-February Caspersen had $112.8 million in a brokerage account with which he could have paid right back investors, but instead he gambled it all on what were called ‘aggressive bearish choices trades.’
By early March he had simply $3 million left.
Caspersen was arrested on March 23 after representatives of a foundation that is charitable by billionaire financier Louis M. Bacon, from which Caspersen had taken cash, became dubious and alerted authorities.
Bogus Investment Vehicles
Prosecutors believe Caspersen had experimented with defraud their victims out of $150 million in total, promising them a return of 15 to 20 percent on their investment. He told them that the funds would be used to ‘make secured loans to equity that is private’ and created five bogus investment automobiles to convince them to part with their money. Some regarding the money he raised was used to help make fake interest payments to earlier investors, stated prosecutors.
Caspersen pleaded simple to one count of securities fraudulence and one count of cable fraud, although he could be likely to plead guilty to amended charges at a forthcoming hearing.
Caspersen told the judge he is receiving treatment for mental illness, gambling addiction and alcoholism.
Pennsylvania House Republicans Soliciting Support for Expanded Gambling
Pennsylvania House Republicans are attempting to take gambling online and use the tax arises from the expansion to fund a budget that is growing Governor Tom Wolf. (Image: visitpacasinos.com)
Pennsylvania House Republicans are attempting to muster up help to expand gambling laws in the Keystone State in an effort to fund ballooning expenses and an budget that is upcoming from Governor Tom Wolf (D).
Late final thirty days, an amendment to expand gambling was added to a bill that set tips for just how revenues from casinos were distributed in the state. The proposition was quickly shot down but Republican lawmakers remained steadfast in determining should they may find backing that is enough the chamber to provide gaming another try.
Based on The Associated Press, conservatives want to persuade their residence colleagues on both sides of the political aisle to get behind casino-style gambling at airports, pubs, off-track wagering facilities, and casino-operated websites.
Should the Pennsylvania GOP feel they will have sufficient support, a vote on State Rep. John Payne’s (R-District 106) House Bill 649 could take place through the of June 20 week.
Budget Crunch
Republicans are doing every thing in their power to avoid taxes that are raising something Wolf is asking them doing in purchase to bridge a $1-$1.5 billion budget gap.
Lawmakers have to arrive at terms on how best to fund Wolf’s spending plans, and are hoping in order to avoid repeating history. The Pennsylvania General Assembly and Wolf were 267 days late in passing a budget as the Republican-controlled legislature and governor refused to compromise during the previous legislative calendar.
Gambling is one middleman that is potential. It allows Wolf to spend more on education, while not raising taxes.
But there are lots of opponents, in addition they’re citing the same old anti-online gambling speaking points.
‘One problem with online gambling is accessibility. It provides people the possibility to gamble wherever and each time they please, including at school and work,’ Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli penned in a op-ed posted by Lehigh Valley Live.
‘Another issue could be the lack of fiscal understanding. Essentially, there is absolutely no means to trace the money that is being traded online because virtual cash leaves no paper trail,’ Morganelli opined.
Payne disagrees.
‘I have kids and grandchildren and understand essential it is to find this right,’ Payne said fall that is last. ‘We must have a thorough set of directions and charges in position to end the ‘wild west’ atmosphere that currently exists and protect authorized consumers.’
DFS Passes Committee
Payne is seeking to any and all forms of video gaming revenue to invest in the state budget, and no subject in gaming is more talked about in 2016 than daily fantasy sports (DFS).
On June 15, House Bill 2150, the Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act, passed the home Gaming Oversight Committee unanimously. Payne, who chairs the gaming committee, believes DFS along with expanded gambling could give a boost that is substantial Harrisburg’s bottom line.
HB 2150 would cost DFS operators like DraftKings and FanDuel $50,000 per license, with each permit valid for five years. Daily fantasy companies would pay five percent taxes on their adjusted quarterly revenues.
Introduced and authored by State Rep. George Dunbar (R-District 56), HB 2150 was forwarded towards the homely house Rules Committee for additional consideration.
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