Daily Archives: Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Take This Stack and Shove It

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My father was a union shop steward and local president when I was a kid, and about the time I went to college, he moved on to a job with the union as an organizer, eventually finishing his career after more than a decade as the top official of his union in the state. So I grew up in a union household. We never had a car that wasn’t American-made. I’ve worked for myself for most of my career, and I’ve never been a union member myself (except for a very brief stint at Fred Meyer where I got to fill out all the paperwork but didn’t last long enough to get to the point where I was an actual member of the bargaining unit) but I’ve never crossed a picket line.

It was with some dismay that the day after I booked a weekend trip to play some satellites at the World Series of Poker, I heard of the citywide strike called for 1 June by the Culinary and Bartenders Union in a tweet from Kevin Mathers.

There’s a list on the union site of the 30+ casinos and hotels that will be affected by the strike if it happens. What won’t be directly affected is the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, the site of the WSOP.

According to vegastravelalert.org, the info website of the union, the contract at the Rio doesn’t expire until a couple of weeks after the end of the WSOP, although the rest of the Caesars properties are affected by the 1 June deadline.

Luckily—since I only had a couple of days on this trip and I wanted to maximize my time—I’d booked my accommodations at the Rio for the first time ever. So no picket-crossing me.

I’m getting in on Friday evening (the 8th), hoping to jump into the 8pm $575 Mega Satellite (pays $5K in lammers and $50 cash), then Saturday and Sunday’s 9am $185 Mega Satellite (pays 3 $500 lammers and $100 cash), with the Venetian 7:05pm $40K GTD Survivor ($400 entry, pays $3,400 cash), and some Omaha Hi-Low cash games at the Rio, Venetian, or Orleans to fill in the time before I fly back out late Sunday.

Workers of the world unite!