Mediator aides union dispute

Mandalay Resort Group management met with leaders of the Operating Engineers Local 501 last Friday to negotiate along with the aid of a federal mediator. Both parties are trying to create a contract to involving nearly 320 maintenance workers at three different hotels.

A business representative of the union, said in a released phone message on Sunday that the union and the Mandalay Resort Group agreed to not further discuss the status of the negotiations until their next  session of talks. There has been no date set for the next session.

The two sides are trying to build a contract for workers at the Excalibur, Luxor, and Circus Circus hotels. The workers conduct maintenance jobs at the hotel and casino resorts and have been without a new contract since their last one expired at the end of March.

They have been working under an unclear contract extension since March 30. It is reported that both sides settled at a negotiation session last Monday to return to talks last Friday ready to compromise. The federal mediator whop was aiding the meeting asked both sides to make compromises.

It is said that the mediator's attendance is an encouragement and very positive for the negotiations process.

Back in July, Local 501 discarded a two-tier wage offer made by Mandalay that would pay new union members at reported $3 less than the $21 an hour the properties' union members make now. Then, back in September, the union's members voted to permit its leaders to strike if the company doesn't cancel its two-tier offer.