Foxwoods lays off 200
By ERICA JACOBSON
Norwich Bulletin
Posted Jun 27, 2008 @ 12:02 AM
Last update Jun 27, 2008 @ 09:36 AM
Mashantucket, Conn. —
Almost 200 middle-manager and some hourly employees were laid off Thursday at Foxwoods Resort Casino as part of a “strategic organizational review” process begun in January, according to a spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, the casino’s owners.
“They’re just looking for the wisest spending practices that can go the farthest financially for the tribe,” Lori Potter said, adding she was unsure whether there would be more cuts. “I’ve been told that this is it, but I can’t really be quoted and say for sure.”
All the layoffs were at Foxwoods, not at the new MGM Grand expansion, Potter said.
The cuts are believed to be the first of their kind in the casino’s 16-year history. The review process began when Barry Cregan took over as Foxwoods’ interim president in mid-January after John O’Brien resigned, she said.
Cregan could not be reached Thursday night for comment.
Foxwoods employs about 10,000 people at its casinos. Workers let go Thursday will get two weeks severance pay for each year they were employed up to 13 years, Potter said, as well as health benefits.
The economic downtown sent revenue into an eight-month slide at Connecticut’s casinos. May’s unveiling of the MGM Grand coincided with a 7.7 percent increase in slot revenues at Foxwoods from a year ago, but officials there and at Mohegan Sun have been cautious in saying the worst has passed.
In early May, executives at Mohegan Sun announced the casino would trim about 600 jobs through attrition. Mitchell Etess, president and chief officer at Mohegan Sun, said the casino is “constantly reviewing to make sure we have the proper staffing levels and looking for efficient ways to do things.”
Layoffs are not in the casino’s future, however, he said.
“When we go about reducing our work force, we do it by not replacing people who leave on their own or for other reasons,” Etess said. “The tribe has never laid somebody off or put them out of a job involuntarily for this reason.”
The Mashantucket tribe also has faced tough fiscal times lately.
In the past few months, it laid off roughly 170 tribal government workers, dropped out of the bidding process to build a resort casino in Kansas and pulled its funding from Norwich’s fireworks display. A growing number of tribal members have called for transparency in the tribal council’s budgeting process, information now only available to council members.
Reach Erica Jacobson at 425-421 or ejacobson@norwichbulletin.com
Norwich Bulletin
Posted Jun 27, 2008 @ 12:02 AM
Last update Jun 27, 2008 @ 09:36 AM
Mashantucket, Conn. —
Almost 200 middle-manager and some hourly employees were laid off Thursday at Foxwoods Resort Casino as part of a “strategic organizational review” process begun in January, according to a spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, the casino’s owners.
“They’re just looking for the wisest spending practices that can go the farthest financially for the tribe,” Lori Potter said, adding she was unsure whether there would be more cuts. “I’ve been told that this is it, but I can’t really be quoted and say for sure.”
All the layoffs were at Foxwoods, not at the new MGM Grand expansion, Potter said.
The cuts are believed to be the first of their kind in the casino’s 16-year history. The review process began when Barry Cregan took over as Foxwoods’ interim president in mid-January after John O’Brien resigned, she said.
Cregan could not be reached Thursday night for comment.
Foxwoods employs about 10,000 people at its casinos. Workers let go Thursday will get two weeks severance pay for each year they were employed up to 13 years, Potter said, as well as health benefits.
The economic downtown sent revenue into an eight-month slide at Connecticut’s casinos. May’s unveiling of the MGM Grand coincided with a 7.7 percent increase in slot revenues at Foxwoods from a year ago, but officials there and at Mohegan Sun have been cautious in saying the worst has passed.
In early May, executives at Mohegan Sun announced the casino would trim about 600 jobs through attrition. Mitchell Etess, president and chief officer at Mohegan Sun, said the casino is “constantly reviewing to make sure we have the proper staffing levels and looking for efficient ways to do things.”
Layoffs are not in the casino’s future, however, he said.
“When we go about reducing our work force, we do it by not replacing people who leave on their own or for other reasons,” Etess said. “The tribe has never laid somebody off or put them out of a job involuntarily for this reason.”
The Mashantucket tribe also has faced tough fiscal times lately.
In the past few months, it laid off roughly 170 tribal government workers, dropped out of the bidding process to build a resort casino in Kansas and pulled its funding from Norwich’s fireworks display. A growing number of tribal members have called for transparency in the tribal council’s budgeting process, information now only available to council members.
Reach Erica Jacobson at 425-421 or ejacobson@norwichbulletin.com
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