Showroom technicians at the Orleans Hotel, Gold Coast Hotel and the Suncoast Hotel in Las Vegas voted for union representation by IATSE Local 720 during a National Labor Relations Board election Thursday, June 28 th, 2007. The Coast Casinos are a division of the Boyd Gaming Group based in Las Vegas. The vote was 10 to 6 in favor of the Union.

The unit of approximately 20 employees work with sound, audio-visual, lighting, special effects, stage and theater settings at the three casinos.

“We are proud of these technical and craft employees who have chosen IATSE Local 720 as their representative in negotiations for a contract with the Boyd Gaming Group” said Local 720 president Hal Ritzer.

Boyd Gaming Chairman Bill Boyd was recently praised in the Las Vegas media by some Vegas labor leaders for setting the bar for his good treatment of long-term employees and his “generous and magnanimous” severance package for Stardust employees, union and non-union, who were let go to make way for the new Echelon project on the Las Vegas Strip.

Boyd Gaming spokesman Rob Stillwill said in the same news article the company’s severance packages to employees was “just the right thing to do”, “based on the company’s commitment to the community and its long history in Las Vegas.”

“With Boyd Gaming’s positive attitude towards Las Vegas workers we look forward to the good faith negotiating process with the company as outlined by federal law”, Said Ritzer.

IATSE Local 720 was chartered in 1939 and represents approximately 1,800 full-time members who work in film, wardrobe, theater, make-up, sound, lighting, convention and trade shows in Southern Nevada .