James D. Walsh - Playing Against the House: The Dramatic World of an Undercover Union Organizer

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Copyright 2016 by James D. Walsh

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First Scribner hardcover edition February 2016

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Interior design by Kyle Kabel

Jacket design and photograph by Spencer Kimble

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015044659

ISBN 978-1-4767-7834-1

ISBN 978-1-4767-7837-2 (ebook)

For my parents, John A. and Ellen

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

The Targets

Magic City Casino

Calder Casino and Race Course

Mardi Gras Casino

Salt Organizers

Sarah: from Massachusetts

Dan Connolly: Sarahs boss

Tom: salt in Boston

Salts

Mary: from Wisconsin

Erika: from Miami

Colette: from New York

Luke: from Tennessee

Union History

Herbert Pinky Schiffman: Miami hotel union local president from 1961 to 1977

Ed Hanley: Hotel union international president 1973 to 1998

John Wilhelm: Hotel union president 1998 to 2009, Unite Here international president 1998 to 2012

Bruce Raynor: Unite Here international president 2004 to 2009

Andy Stern: president of SEIU 1996 to 2010

Unite Here Local 355

Wendi Walsh: president of Local 355

Alex: staff organizer

Rozaline: staff organizer

Pilar: staff organizer

Bridget: staff organizer

Andy: treasurer

Reverend Aguilar: Episcopal priest, organizer

Jeanette: community activist

Sam: researcher

Calder Management

Tom ODonnell: president of Calder during orientation

Austin Miller: president of Calder after Tom ODonnell

Stanley Donovan: director of food and beverage

Mike DiStefano: assistant director of food and beverage

Peggy: head of human resources

Jon: manager of Twin Spires Tavern

Debbie: buffet manager

Randy: buffet manager

Calder Employees

Kalia: buffet leader

Keon: dishwasher

Dylan: waiter from Vegas

Dot: concession cashier, brownnoser

Tricia: Twin Spires waitress

Donna: Twin Spires waitress

Melanie: bartender from Oregon

Becca: cocktail waitress

Ceci: dishwasher

Priya: buffet cashier, Vidyas sister

Vidya: buffet cashier, Priyas sister

Erin: buffet server

Rita: buffet server

Tasha: buffet server

String: buffet server

Mardi Gras Management

Dan Adkins: vice president

Steven Feinberg: director of human resources

Dick Trotter: head of security

Sally: food and beverage director

Rico: hired Mary

Jay: assistant food and beverage director

Frank: bar manager

Marat: manager of the French Quarter restaurant

Tim: food and beverage manager, father of Vanessas nephew

Nydia: food and beverage manager

Mardi Gras Employees

Deirdre: bartender

Saraphina: cage cashier, committee member

Lena: cocktail waitress

Elisa: cocktail waitress

Vanessa: cocktail waitress

Grace: cocktail waitress

Lynne: cocktail waitress

Benita: housekeeper, committee member

Fabiola: housekeeper, committee member

Harriet: slot attendant, committee member

Alexis: slot attendant, committee member

Violine: concessions cashier

Alice: money sweeper, committee member

Rosalie: cage cashier, committee member

David: bartender

Brett: bartender

Tina: concession stand cashier

Dante: server in the French Quarter

Maya: guest services representative, committee member

Michael: cook in the French Quarter, committee member

Sean: porter

Lawyers and Judges

Susy Kucera: counsel for the National Labor Relations Board

William Zloch: federal judge who presided over the 10(j)

Robert Norton: counsel for Mardi Gras

Peter Sampo: counsel for Mardi Gras

George Carson: NLRB judge

To write this story I used two years worth of notes written on servers pads and strips of glossy receipt paper. Whenever I wanted to write something down, I would flee to the bathroom or pull out my phone, pretend to text, and send an e-mail to myself. This is far from the most desirable method of reportingsome quotes were written down from memory an hour or two after they had been spokenbut I did my best to quote as accurately as possible. No one knew that his or her conversations with me would be printed in a book one day. As such, I have changed the names and identifying characteristics of certain people.

J ust west of Little Havana I saw the neon signs giant letters burning red like a bulls-eye: Magic City Casino. Id just consumed four times the recommended serving size of Miamis most popular legal upper, Cuban coffee, and my heart was bouncing like a racquetball in my rib cage. Sarah turned into the vast empty parking lot and pulled up alongside a row of taxis whose drivers were trying their luck between fares.

Its going to be really hard to get a job at Neverland, she said. Unite Here Local 355, South Floridas hospitality union, was targeting three casinos for unionization. Magic City (code name: Neverland) was one of them. Im pretty sure they only hire people who speak Spanish. But its worth a shot. So, I want you to go in and look around.

Just walk around? I asked.

Yeah, and then, theres a bar on the left side when you walk in, I want you to go sit there and get the bartenders name. Start a relationship. Who knows? Maybe she will get you hired.

In fact, it was Sarahs job to get me hired. Sarah worked for Unite Here. She traveled the country recruiting and training salts, union activists who got jobs in non-union workplaces, intent on organizing them from the inside. I was in Miami to salt.

The thought of waltzing into Magic City and striking up a conversation with a bartender was daunting. I protested. What if the bartender is a woman? And what if shes hot? What if she doesnt want to talk to me? Sarah didnt budge. It was a push, union-speak for something more than a request and slightly less than a directive. Sarah, like other organizers, presumed any excuse to get out of a push to be a manifestation of fear. Of course, in this case, she was right. Back then, few tasks could have been more challenging than starting a conversation with a female bartender.