Subject: DETAILS ON BLOODY TUESDAY AT THE WSOP
From: oneputtnaif@aol.com (ONEPUTTNAIF)
Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker
Date: Thu, May 23, 2002 10:01 AM
Message-ID: <20020523130118.14542.00000358@mb-mo.aol.com>

below is a letter, written by Manny Fortez, (lead toke committee member, for
the World Series Of Poker) highlighting the details of the events leading to
the premature dismissals of 25 extremely qualified tournament dealers....

"Subj: wsop dealers 
Date: 5/23/02 12:07:28 AM Romance Daylight Time 

Here's the scoop I promised to send to you based on the factual events as they
transpired.  First and foremost, the dealers did not plan this ahead of time
and what happened Monday was rather a spontaneous reaction of the dealers.  We
had full intentions of working to the end of the series even with our own
personal frustrations of making the least money compared to the previous years.
 

Most of the dealers were gathered around one table by the super sattelite area
as they awaited being handed them their tip envelopes from the sattelites and
the last 2 events leading to the big one.  Questions and frustrations were
brought forward to the toke committee as to how we could be fairly compensated
for our final week of work.  As a collective measure, we had decided to ask for
1&1/2 % of the prize pool of the final event.  We were certainly concerned
about all the talk from the players who were verbalizing their intentions about
not leaving anything for the dealers in retaliation for the 6% that Binion's is
taking out as a management fee.  The first 5 weeks of the tournament will bear
the fact that the winning players were leaving less than usual for whatever
reasons they may have, with but a few exceptions.  As a whole, the dealers felt
we were caught in the middle of all these, and felt compelled to ask for that
guarantee in the final event to somehow make up for the first 5 weeks where on
the average each dealer made between 30 to 45 percent less than in past years. 
A toke committee member then went upstairs to give George Fisher (Director of
Poker Operations) the message, and shortly thereafter returned and told the
dealers this.  George said " He would not be intimidated and either report to
your work assignments or leave the premises".  Then, Brian ( coordinator) also
came down and repeated that all the dealers that want to walk out to leave
immediately and those that want to work to report to their assigned tables.  At
this point George had also come down and asked to speak to the dealer(s)
representative.  There was 3 of us who then went upstairs to George's office
and met with Becky, Benny and George.  We had told her our reasons for asking
for that guarantee and why.  She had stated that with our actions, she felt
being taken advantaged of and shaken down and being unprofessional about the
whole thing.  Then George asked us to leave the room and to wait outside his
office.  He came out shortly after and announced that we had a verbal deal in
place to get that guarantee of 1&1/2% based on his word and Becky's.  We all
shook hands on it and reported back to the dealers who were awaiting the result
of our meeting.  The majority of the dealers asked that it be put in writing
but I somehow convinced them that her word was good enough (based on my meeting
with Becky last year to negotiate that 1&1/2% that the dealers got for the
whole tournament).  We all went to work a minimum 10 hours, and as the events
will show the next day, I will be proven wrong in trusting her word and
Georges'.

Second Day, Tuesday.  We report to work around 11:30am and word was abuzz
already that something was going to happen.  Word was leaked to me and a few
others that a list of dealers will be fired and that the replacement dealers
from Swing shift were ready to take our places.  Sure enough, when Jack Slater
(Swing shift Supv) came around and told the dealers on his list to report
upstairs to the orientation room did it confirm our misfortune.  Inside the
room was the head of human resources and The head of security and his
assistant.  It went quick and fast.  We were summarilly informed our services
were no longer needed and we were to turn in all of our ties, aprons, badges
etc.  We were told to fully cooperate or risk being charged additionally with
"willful misconduct". We were given a phone number to call the next day to be
able to pick up our final checks and that we were officially barred from
stepping into Binion's properties.  We were escorted out thru the kitchen
backway and one of our fellow dealer (Don Naifeh) protested because he is
physically handicapped and could not go thru 3 flight of stairs.  He did not
even make it to the stairs, as he slipped and fell on the wet kitchen floor. 
He ended up at the emergency room for at least for 2 hours and rejoined us
later in the afternoon outside the premises of Las Vegas Club behind the
Horshoe.  

The terminated list is as follows:  Carl Alcorns (dealer coordinator) 
Don Naifeh, James Keane, Laurie Skywalker, Kurt Dewhurst, Pamela Shandel, Joy
Fraleigh, Pat Flynn, Gina De Leo, Linda De Fazio, Ben Fiore, Bart Palmos, and
Manny Fortez

The following are the dealers who voluntarily walked off to support our cause:
Stan Chin, David Alizadeh, Janice Hoegen, Rick Mangione, Fred Battaglia, Art
Bracken, Frank Basone, John Smith, Debra Parks, Paul Lynch, Ken Kendall, and
Eileen Correia.  

Our dealer coordinator who was also fired with the rest of us had no knowledge
whatsoever of what was going on.  We are absolutely clueless for whatever
reason they may have in discharging him.

We feel our rights were violated in the manner that we were terminated.  All we
wanted was an equitable compensation for our final week of work based on the
history of the WSOP through all the years.  We were lied to our faces and then
called rabble rousers for our actions.  From the above list of dealers, some of
us have been part of the WSOP in the early days and all of us had a minimum 5 -
20 years being a part of it.  From that list too includes 3 fired dealers and 1
dealer who walked out of her own volition who were fitted and scheduled to work
the final day of the big event.  What gives...."