Detroit: one down, two to go

Workers at eternally struggling Greektown Casino didn’t need a translator to read the handwriting on the wall. Nearly 75% of them voted to ratify a new union contract last night. In return for modest financial incentives, employees will be shouldering part of the cost of their health plans for the first time. Management got something significant in return for small concessions on its part. But that didn’t stop Teamsters International spokeswoman Veronica Sawyer for bragging on the union’s “leverage” and calling the pact “a victory for casino workers at Greektown.” She might be partly right — at least to the extent that, had they negotiating independently, Greektown’s unions would have been in a worse bargaining position than those at other, better-run properties. Were I an official with the Culinary Union, I’d be looking at the drubbing unions are taking in Atlantic City and the draw they’ve had to settle for in Detroit, and start to look toward the next round of collective-bargaining in Las Vegas with considerable trepidation.