It's been almost nine months since the majority of Boyd Gaming's stagehands voted to unionize. Since then, they've been subjected to a managerial smackdown and their elected representative, IATSE, is virtually powerless to alleviate the situation -- or even to get a contract out of Boyd. IATSE has been similarly impotent with regard to Blue Man Group's stagehands.

Let's face it, for all the anti-labor huffing and puffing in the pages of the Hooterville Times, er, Las Vegas Review-Journal, unions don't have that much clout in this town, with the notable exception of the Culinary ... and even it couldn't do beans for Sen. Barack Obama. Union negotiations on behalf of Wynn Las Vegas dealers have slowed to a crawl and the Culinary's talks with the Las Vegas Tropicana are completely stagnant, as of last report. In at least one of those instances, management gives every appearance of being intent on forcing a strike.

What is most troubling about l'affaire Orleans is the Mark Garrity-led reprisals that are alleged (and Michael Mishak of the Sun is one of the best-sourced lawyers in town). If true, they're a blotch on the reputation of what's generally one of the most dignified of the major casino companies and -- at worst -- could easily run Boyd afoul of the National Labor Relations Board.

We've progressed beyond the era when casino management sicced the goon squad on union meetings -- but not as much as we'd like to think, it would seem.

According to the Daily Comet (love that name!), Lead Day meant a revenue leap for Lousiana casinos, who posted a $24 million increase over February '07. Unlike Las Vegas, New Orleans actually saw some casino benefit from the NBA All-Star game and Harrah's New Orleans (above) notched its second-best month in its entire history. (Does this mean Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman will finally stop pouting about not enough tourists gambling at his Big Easy property?)

Columbia Sussex's Amelie Belle, soon to depart after nine months in Morgan, pulled in almost $5 million, while Baton Rouge riverboat revenues crept up only slightly. The #1 riverboat in Louisiana, revenue-wise, was Pinnacle Entertainment's vessel at L'Auberge du Lac, on Lake Charles, raking in $26.5 million.

That Houston-fed market is also home to Boyd's Delta Downs, another strong performer ($15 million). Even the competition-besieged Bossier City market was up, posting a $2.5 increase. In descending order, the top three markets were Bossier City (six casinos, $75.7 million), New Orleans (four casinos, $66.5 million) and Lake Charles (four casinos, $55.8 million), for Y/Y increases of 3%, 18% and 3%, respectively.