Labor/management negotiations can frequently get contentious. But this open letter from Dennis Gomes and Pam Popielarski of the Tropicana to Local 54 seems downright belligerent:
There is no need to wait until September 30 for Local 54 and the Tropicana to settle this contract.We challenge you to sit down at the bargaining table with the Tropicana to reach an agreement right now for the benefit of Tropicana’s employees and the Tropicana. We are ready to meet and to bargain around the clock.
For some reason, the tone of the first sentence seems like something you would hear a) before a bar fight or b) on professional wrestling. Seriously, this is an old school cheap heat tactic: the “good guy” challenges the “bad guy” to fight it out right now, but the “bad guy” refuses, making the fans wait until the pay-per-view.
I imagine Gomes sitting next to McDevitt at, say, Tony’s Baltimore Grill (right up the street from the Trop; with the expansion, they’re next-door neighbors). After the two exchange, “what’re you looking at” and “you think you’re better than me,” Gomes gets up, says, “To hell with this. I’m not waiting until September 30th. I’ll be outside if you want to start negotiating wage and benefit packages right now!”
Seriously, I hope for the benefit of casino employees that both sides can sit down and get a deal hammered out before a strike happens. I can’t recall any successful bargaining session ever taking place through the media via open letters, but there’s always a first time.