Where does one even start with this one. Six months ago we discussed [3]the plight of Revel - New Jersey's "state of the art" casino - which filed for bankruptcy less than a year after opening its doors, despite numerous sunk incentives an millions of dollars in an "economic development incentive" by the financially troubled state. A few months later, following a prepackaged debt-for-equity, the casino has emerged [4]from bankruptcy with $1.2 billion of its pre-petition $1.5 billion in debt converted into equity. While it is unclear if the casino will ever turn a profit even with the much streamlined balance sheet one thing is clear: it is trying. So hard, in fact, that as the AP reports [5]Local 54, Atlantic City's main casino workers' union, is complaining to state labor and political officials about Revel Casino Hotel's use of part-timers. Is the irony here becoming apparent?
The union has been battling the largely non-union Revel over its labor policies since before it opened in 2012.
A Local 54 spokesman says the union wants to make state officials aware of Revel's labor policies, particularly in light of state aid that helped the struggling casino to open, including a $2.6 million grant from the Labor Department.
Revel declined comment on its staffing levels.
Oh yes, we forgot about the $2.6 million grant from the Labor Department: that's more taxpayer sunk costs...
To summarize: a state- and taxpayer-subsidized casino opens, files for bankruptcy in under 12 months, reopens... and is criticized for operating in a way that will prevent it from filing for bankruptcy in another 12 months?
Alas, while the trend toward a "part-time" society, first exposed here in 2010 [6]and subsequently accepted as gospel even by the slowest, dimmest and most sycophantic corners of the MSM, is nothing new, we had yet to see labor unions - those staunchest supporters of the very same policies that promote the conversion of full-time into part-time workers - lash out against the manifestations of these very policies. Perhaps the labor unions would be happier and get their desired full-time jobs... if for every part-time job there weren't hundreds of unemployed candidates that make up the core of this so-called "recovery."
Of course, at the very bottom of this is toxic loop is just the fundamental malaise affecting the US economy or what is left of it: pervasive, unavoidable central planning by the state and the central bank, both of which are inexorably and increasingly becoming the dominant player in not only balance sheet but also income statement decisions by virtually every private sector player.
Our advice to the Revel part-time union workers: be happy you are not unpaid interns. Because that is coming in the next phase of the "recovery."