Atlantic City, New Jersey (AP) — Dealers at the Trump Marina Hotel Casino will get a second chance to form a union after a judge threw out the results of a 2007 vote in which the United Auto Workers narrowly lost a campaign to unionize workers there.
Administrative Law Judge Earl Shamwell Jr. set aside the results of the first vote, in which the union lost by eight votes out of 358 ballots cast.
The judge found that Trump Marina violated the law by improperly interfering with the election on several instances. The ruling was made July 18 but disclosed in a statement by the union on Tuesday.
„The judge got this one exactly right,“ said Mario Spina, a Trump Marina dealer. „The company broke all kinds of rules and interfered with our right to vote, and we’re not going to allow them to get away with it.“
Spina said that he was in the employee cafeteria in May 2007 when he tried to approach another dealer about supporting the union when a manager intervened and said „a lot of dealers are going to lose their jobs“ if the union vote succeeds, and that management would never negotiate with a union.
The judge noted that manager denied making such statements, but the judge determined after hearing testimony from both men that the manager did make them.
The judge also ordered the casino to revoke a suspension it handed out to Spina.
Tom Hickey, a spokesman for Trump Entertainment Resorts, which operates three casinos here including Trump Marina, said the company disagrees with the ruling and will appeal it.
The Trump Marina vote was a setback in the UAW‘s quest to unionize dealers at all 11 Atlantic City casinos. The union has won representation elections at Caesars Atlantic City, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Bally’s Atlantic City, and the Tropicana Casino and Resort, but has yet to reach agreement on a contract with any of them. It lost votes at Trump Marina and the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort.