ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. When the Revel mega-casino opens in May, many of its dealers, beverage servers and other customer-service workers will be young, attractive and sexy.
And a policy the casino is implementing probably will keep it that way.
Applicants are being told they will have jobs for as little as four years at a time, after which they will have to reapply. That means competing with younger, fresher faces a requirement that has never been made before in the 33-year history of casino gambling in Atlantic City.
Revel says it is crucial that employees who most often come into contact with guests put the best possible face on the organization.
The defined-term roles are the most critical in the entertainment and hospitality business, and their engagement with our guests will help define us, Revel said Wednesday in a statement. We want to ensure that these high-profile professionals are always engaged with our guests.
Under the policy, first reported by The Press of Atlantic City, jobs subject to term limits of four to six years include dealers, valets, cocktail servers, bartenders and front-desk clerks.
The casino says it will recruit for supervisory positions from among those workers and will encourage advancement through the ranks. At the end of the job term, any employee who has not been promoted will have to reapply for the same job and compete with all other comers.
That, the citys main casino union says, will have the effect of purging the workforce of all but the youngest, most attractive faces.
Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of Unite Here, said Revel is trashing an unwritten Atlantic City rule that casino jobs are to be long-term employment meant to provide a decent standard of living.
Theyre treating their workers like baseball players, but paying them like hot-dog vendors, McDevitt said. These are supposed to be good, stable jobs, not indentured servitude. But theyre treating them like pitchers at spring training, who can be cut at any time.
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