Mohegan Sun cuts 355 jobs

The Casino Vultures salivating to invade the little Town of Palmer announced layoffs in articles below. There is no indication if these are workers the Slot Parlor recruited from overseas.

Let's not overlook:

Mohegan Sun has cut 900 jobs through attrition since the recession began in the autumn of 2008.


The most pathetic tale is the Casino Cheerleaders who continue to blindly support this flawed endeavor in spite of the Palmer Study Committee's Report that was ignored. [The report may be found at: United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts]

For some additional information about the impact of the CT Slot Parlors, check out these articles: Mohegan Sun and CT Slot Parlors

Mohegan Sun cuts 355 jobs

By
JAMES MOSHER
Norwich Bulletin
Posted Sep 14, 2010 @ 11:49 PM
Mohegan
Sun, struggling under a large
debt load and a slow economy, is cutting
355 jobs, or about 4 percent of its labor
force, the first layoffs in
the casino’s
history.

The layoffs had been rumored for months,
but even longtime employees were surprised,
said Cara Bartlett, of
Franklin, who was
let go from her job Tuesday after working
five years
in the casino’s Sunburst buffet.
Food and beverage workers were told
Saturday
to report to a meeting Tuesday. Tuesday’s
news reduced some
workers assembled in the
Convention Center to tears.

“I looked
around the room and thought,
‘This is horrible,’ ” Bartlett said.
“What
are these poor people going to do?”

Executives announced a program
Tuesday that
affects 475 workers. President and CEO Mitchell
Etess said
120 of those are expected to be
“redeployed” in the casino’s work force,
making the total number of dismissals 355.

Among the cuts, which
Etess described as
“across the house,” are 47 managers and
17 directors.
Before the layoffs, Mohegan
Sun had 9,000 Connecticut workers.

“We
have taken a patient attitude over the
past two years,” Etess said during a
press
briefing in the casino’s executive conference
room.
“Unfortunately, the economy hasn’t
improved. The recovery has been much
slower
than expected.”

Leaders respond

Officials lamented
the layoffs.

Montville Mayor Joseph Jaskiewicz said he was
briefed
Monday that the cuts were imminent.

“It’s killing (the tribe) to do it,”
he said
Tuesday. “It shows you how bad the economic
times are.”

State Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, whose
district includes
Montville, said the layoffs
are a big blow to job creation efforts in
Eastern Connecticut.

“We’re supposed to be creating jobs, not losing
them,” she said. “I give the tribe credit for
holding out as long as
they did. My heart goes
out to the families.”

On Tuesday morning
assembled food and beverage
workers were instructed to approach staff
holding lists of names, Bartlett said.
Employees whose names were
highlighted on the
documents were told they had lost their jobs.

“It
was just awful,” she said.

Bartlett said she is using the experience to
get a jump on a new career. She recently
received a master’s degree in
social work.
The casino could have done more to prepare
its workers, she
said.

“They had extra security around (at the meeting),”
Bartlett
said. “If only they had the same level
of social workers on hand.”

Severance

Workers will receive two weeks severance
pay for
each year with the casino, Etess
said. Each worker is guaranteed a minimum
eight weeks of severance pay with the
maximum being 28 weeks, he said.

The layoffs were planned over nine months,
executives said. Upper
management salaries
have been frozen and Mohegan Sun has cut
900 jobs
through attrition since the recession
began in the autumn of 2008.

Tuesday marked the first layoff program since
the casino opened in
1996. The cuts come
almost two years after rival Foxwoods Resort
Casino
reduced its workforce by 700, or
6 percent.

“We held out as long we
could,” said Bruce
“Two Dogs” Bozsum, interim chairman of the
Mohegan
tribe, which owns the casino. “We’ve
been working for two years to preserve
all
that we have here at Mohegan Sun.”

None of the tribal
government’s 500 employees
are being laid off, Bozsum said. The Pocono
Downs racetrack/casino, a Pennsylvania operation
owned by Mohegan Sun,
won’t be losing any of
its 1,500 workers, Chief Operating Officer
Jeffrey Hartmann said.

Remaining Connecticut employees will get
raises of 3 percent in February, up from
2 percent a year earlier, Etess
announced.
Employees will be getting greater flexibility
on holidays, he
said. The casino is also
creating a small filling station where
employees can buy gasoline at 5 to 30 cents
below market prices. An
in-house employee
convenience store is being expanded.
“It’s a difficult
and sad time,” Etess said.
“We’re looking forward to doing better in
the
future.”

Restaurants to close

The Sunburst, one of the casino’s
two
buffets, is being closed. A snackbar in
the Race Book, or horse
racing teletheater,
is also shutting. Two restaurants in the
Fidelia’s
Market area — Woodland Wok and
Chief’s bagels — will close Sept. 27 and
re-open under third-party management on
Oct. 1.

Etess said he is
encouraging the new
operators, who are renaming the wok
and bagel
restaurants, to hire restaurant
workers being let go by Mohegan Sun.

The restaurant changes reflect the trend at
Mohegan Sun to recruit
more third-party
operators. The casino still plans to build
another
hotel, but only if it gets third
parties to build and own it, Hartmann said.
The Sun will manage the new hotel.

Technology is a factor in the
layoffs.
Improved monitoring systems enable the
casino to supervise just
as many gambling
games with fewer people, Etess said.
Slot attendants
were among those being
reduced because of the technology, he said.

The ranks of shift managers and supervisors
is being thinned along
the lines of moves
made at Foxwoods. Last month Foxwoods cut
85 pit boss
and assistant pit boss jobs and
replaced them with 45 jobs under the title
of assistant casino managers.

Executives declined to estimate how
much
savings Mohegan Sun would realize from
the job cuts. Etess also
wouldn’t gives
specifics as to which directors were let go.

Assistant City Editor John Penney and reporter
Sharma Howard
contributed to this story.

Copyright 2010 Norwich Bulletin. Some rights
reserved

Layoffs announced at Mohegan Sun


Reports: Mohegan Sun Plans
Layoffs


Two months after Mohegan Sun
reported
its slot revenue increased for the first
time in two years by
nearly 2 percent,
the resort casino is laying off 355
workers - the
first cutbacks since opening
in 1996.

And the news has shaken the
faith of
residents of the western Massachusetts
town of Palmer, where
Mohegan Sun’s owners
were hoping to one day build a Bay State
casino.

Mitchell Etess, Mohegan Sun’s president
and CEO, said the
Connecticut casino was
eliminating 475 positions, or more than
5 percent
of its total work force of 9,000
workers. About 120 employees will find
new casino employment, leaving a net loss
of 355 jobs at the
entertainment complex,
he said.

Paul Burns, Town Council president
in
Palmer, where Mohegan tribal officials
hope to build a resort-style
casino with
a 600-room hotel if the Bay State ever
expands gambling,
said while news of the
layoffs is disappointing, he is convinced
that a
casino is viable for western
Massachusetts. Still, he’s not certain
Mohegan is the developer to get it done.

“Mohegan built and
overextended themselves
as though they were going to be profitable
forever,” Burns said. “The world has changed.
But I hope there would be
other parties that
would be willing to compete for a license
out here if
the Legislature approves expanded
gambling. There are people who can make a
run at building a casino in this economy -
whether it’s Mohegan remains
to be seen.”

Robert Young, a landscaper who founded
Palmer
Businesses for a Palmer Casino,
said he too is certain that a casino will
be profitable in Palmer. But he doubts Mohegan
can be successful.

“I don’t think they can pull it off,” Young
said. “They’re just
holding up the space out
here so no other casino operator builds in
Western Massachusetts.”

While Mohegan’s slot revenues increased by
1.8 percent to $70.3 million in July, the
layoffs follow a disappointing
third fiscal
quarter. Adjusted revenue for the period
ending June 30
fell to $69.4 million, a
13.6 percent decrease from the third
quarter of
fiscal year 2009