Dec. 29--The United Auto Workers union is seeking to organize nearly 200 dealers at the Argosy Casino Hotel & Spa in Riverside.

A petition seeking a union vote was filed this week with the Kansas City office of the National Labor Relations Board. The federal agency will decide in coming weeks whether to authorize a vote by affected workers.

Argosy is the lone area casino with a significant union work force. The Seafarers Entertainment and Allied Trades Union has long represented around 500 of the casino's 1,000 employees. The casino's security and administrative employees are the principal work units outside the union.

Argosy general manager Tom Burke said Friday the casino was notified Thursday of the union's NLRB filing.

"We're assessing what's happening," he said.

"I'm kind of surprised by this among the dealers," Burke added. "We have a competitive wage package -- in fact, more than competitive. We're curious what the issue is."

UAW organizer Rick Klingenberg at Local 710 in Kansas City signed the NLRB petition. He could not be reached Friday. The petition said that the union was seeking to organize 190 full- and part-time dealers and that at least 30 percent had signed cards supporting its effort.

Unions have tried unsuccessfully in the past to organize workers at other area casinos.

The Isle of Capri was a target in 2000 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, which represents many casino workers in Las Vegas. An effort in 2005 by the Teamsters to organize more than 100 bartenders and others at Ameristar Kansas City Casino and Hotel failed by one vote.

The UAW in recent years has actively courted casino workers and currently represents around 8,000 gaming industry employees in Michigan, Indiana, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

The union in November won an election to represent about 2,600 dealers at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. The tribal-owned facility is the largest casino in the world and the state's largest private employer.

To reach Rick Alm, call 816-234-4785 or send e-mail to ralm@kcstar.com.

-----

To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.