Listen to the Speech Here

7:00pm Thursday, May 10, 2007 (Two Days Prior to Union Election)

…The reason we’re here is because of tension, consternation, and frustration and anger on the part of the dealers as a result of something I personally did in September – mainly change the compensation structure of the bosses using the tip pool of the dealers.  At the time that I did it, it was right when we were opening Macau.  I was tired.  I came back.  I was overtired.  I was distracted.  I had given a great deal of thought to a problem that had come to my attention that was really begging on me.  We could not find help to supervise the games.  We were looking right here.  Our bosses were being asked to work overtime and lose their days off.  We were losing the few people that we had.  We had a very unsatisfactory situation and it looked very grim as far as growing the company into Encore.  We had a problem that was architectural in the way that we structured casino compensation. 

This is a perfect example of how someone identifies the right problem and comes up with the wrong solution.  And in this particular case it was me – not the casino managers, not Andy Pascal…  Steve-arino did it.  I became – because I had been listening to the complaints of the bosses – I became convinced that they were being treated unfairly in the compensation system.  And I thought at the time that if I added 60 or 70 or up to 80 shares in the dealer pool and put in the bonus program and we really got the thing going that the dealer pool would grow quickly and offset the debt.  I miscalculated completely on that point and, as a result, the tips went down. 

The tip pool started to grow again this year and I thought – because I was focused on China – that it’ll take care of itself.  I did not have the kind-of contact that I should’ve had with people that work for me.  And this can happen to a guy like me (that happens to be lucky enough to have two hotels at once open up) and the dark side of it is that you lose touch.  It can happen to anybody and it happened to me.  That doesn’t mean that it was a good thing.  It’s just as bad that it happened. 

I pride myself on the fact that I’ve been able to stay in touch with the people who work for me better than anybody – and have a feel for them… and created a family feeling that resulted in each of my hotels achieving really great success.  I was never confused about that.  As you know, I’ve always known it was people who worked for me.  I took great pride in the fact that I understood that.  I talked to you about that in our pre-opening meetings.  I’ve got a 40 year history that’s unblemished until September in taking care of the people that work for me with great care and consideration. 

Unfortunately, I may have analyzed the problem, but I came to the wrong conclusion on how to deal with it.  Plain and simple, I missed it.  I got it wrong.  The effects that I thought my decision would have on the dealer pool were incorrect.  More importantly, the effect that it had on you – I totally underestimated.  And as a result, I lost, at least in this group, the feeling of family and happiness that has been the hallmark of my business career and, as far as I’m concerned, the source of whatever success I’ve had.  A sad turn of events, as you make a mistake, that’s what happens. 

The issue in life – if you make a mistake, what do you do about it?  Well, I made a mistake with the bosses and I tried to correct it.  I just used the wrong technique.  I’m not a guy that likes to leave things broken.  That’s why you see construction in this place often.  Because I find out that we did something incorrectly or poorly and I try and make it right.  That’s why we fix Tryst.  That’s why we do things.  I’m not a guy who likes to leave things wrong.  It’s one thing to leave a building wrong, but it’s quite another thing to leave people wrong.  That’s why it works here. 

I lost the family feeling because of a bad decision I made.  And it didn’t come home to me until yesterday.  In getting ready for this meeting, I wanted to see if I could address myself intelligently to the issues, so I took my butt down to the dealers’ room on dayshift and I sat down and…  talked to a few people who were still hot at me.  Who were hot enough to express it to me – and not ashamed to do it and there’s no reason not to express it – I was in the dealers’ room after all; I was asking for it.  And I was asking for it – fair enough.  But one of the women who has worked with me a long time, who followed me from my other hotels – the strength of a career of the loyalty of the people with you – said to me, “Steve, I understand why you did what you did for the bosses, but if you would’ve told me before I came to work for you the way you were gonna deal with it, I might not even have criticized you, but I would not have given up my four week or five week vacation.  And I would’ve stayed where I was.  I wouldn’t have come here.  I would’ve said, “Okay, that’s what he wants to do.  Let the young people have the new job.  And I would’ve stayed where I was.”  And when she said that to me, it was like a dart going into my eye.  I had a terrible feeling.  I went back to my office.  Elaine was in Los Angeles.  And I called her up on the telephone and told her what happened.  And I said, “I gotta tell you something, babe.  I did not understand that there was this sense of betrayal.  I made a big mistake.” 

Some people wonder why we had this meeting early.  The union was very surprised that we wanted to have this election right away.  Usually, management likes to take a lot of time.  Well, there were two reasons why we did this quickly. Most importantly, I wanted to get it behind us.  The turmoil – the emotional stress – on all of you and on the people that you work with – is almost intolerable here.  It is a terrible situation.  It is my job to do whatever I can even – especially if – it’s my fault…  Well, whether or not it’s my fault.  In this case it is my fault.  To deal with and to listen and to understand what’s going on.  The first step of wisdom is to hear it.  Hopefully, when you hear somebody, you get the picture and you know what to do, if you got a brain in your head. 

The second reason was that I’ve been scheduled by the government for a surgery on my eyes at Johns Hopkins this week on Monday.  So I’m going to be gone.  I want to get it out of the way.  I want to do this myself.  I won’t be here next week. 

I want to get the family feeling back here.  Now, some people are saying, “Well, Steve, all of the sudden you waited six or seven months and now there’s going to be a union election this weekend.  Is that the whole story?”  In my particular case, and I’m looking you in the eye, I did not realize the extent of the mistake I had made until yesterday.  I was more focused on the right thing I did for the bosses than the wrong thing that I did for the dealers – and the results of it.  So I came late to the party.  There’s nothing to be said except that I got it wrong.  And it’s not the first time that I got it wrong, kids, and it probably won’t be the last time, because I’m a guy that tries.  And this time I got it wrong.  There’s nothing else to be said.  I’m sorry for the aggravation.  I would never do it intentionally if I had understood the result.  And I don’t mean by that the union election, I mean the loss of the family, warmth, and the happiness – and the sense of trust – that someone like that lady that I spoke to yesterday had when she came to work for me – as she has for the past 20 years.  I felt terrible about that and it opened my eyes to the situation. 

I’m not allowed by law to make promises here.  The National Labor Relations Act says that employers have the high ground.  They have you in their clutches – you’re working here – and so they have very strict rules about how people behave at moments like this.  And they say you cannot make promises – you certainly can’t make threats – you can’t do anything to coerce people, but you’re sure entitled to stand up in front of them and tell them what you feel.  That’s what I’m doing. 

A union – whether it’s the TWU or anyone else – comes between the employer, me, and you.  It complicates our relationship.  It makes it much tougher to be dynamic and reactive and competitive in a dynamic and competitive business.  God knows nothing stays the same in this town or in our business more than five minutes in a row.  If a union would guarantee you and me a better life, I’d love it.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?  Well, the only thing that’s going to make a better life for us in this place is, what we’ve said before when we’re together, is our ability to properly deal with our customers.  And it starts with our learning to deal with one another.  But our future as a family is based upon us being together and guys like me getting it right.  You take a risk that I could be wrong when you come with me.  You put yourself in my hands.  And if I get it wrong, you get hurt by it.  And I apologize if that’s been the case but I would never do it on purpose.  But people with good intentions make mistakes too.  That’s the way it works in life. 

…(fuzzy copy)

My job today is to re-instill trust in me from you by admitting that I made a mistake.  I am not permitted by law to make promises and that’s as it should be.  But I am entitled to say that I’ve got a 40 year history of taking care of people that I work with.  Not because I’m a particularly good guy, but because I know how important it is to do that when I see things clearly.  I get the picture here.  I understand the situation.  And I need to restore the feeling here.  And in order to do that, I need to stay as your representative here.  I need to still be your guy.  The union has no experience in our business.  They are no special solution to any of our problems.  My sensitivity is – whether it comes to me early or late – the ability of us to have a better life is dependant upon us acting like a family and trusting one another.  Even if we make mistakes or we’re not perfect. 

This particular union had 11 elections. They lost eight.  They won three.  They weren’t in a position to force management to do anything at the Tropicana or the Stratosphere tower – that’s one of the two they won.  So they walked away or they got fired or decertified by the employees.  No contract.  Of the 11, they lost eight; they won one – across the street, the Frontier.  We distributed, in black and white for you to read, that contract.  It speaks for itself.  Incidentally, it says in it in plain language that the distribution of tips is solely to be determined by management.  Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s what the union contract says.  Along with no 401k plan, no contributions. 

There’s been an awful lot of crazy talk about here – all because of my mistake.  It’s allowed people who are particularly angry – in the hallways and not on video – I’m being taped now so that the National Labor Relations Board knows how I handled myself and that I didn’t behave improperly.  But when you’re not on tape and when people are behind the scenes, they can say anything.  They can make up any story about me.  For example, that everyone here is going to get fired.  How amazing ridiculous is that?  I have a history of 40 years for providing more job security than any other employer in this business.  Turnover during the 90s in the gaming industry was between 35-40% and at Mirage, Bellagio, and Golden Nugget less than 15%.  The job security guy for the last 30 or 40 years has always been me.  Thank God.  There was a rumor that I was going to cancel the health insurance.  I’ve had the best health insurance in the industry for 40 years.  Now I can’t fight rumors and frantic back hallway stuff that’s been started on the internet about me.  And I have only myself to blame for this extraordinary, exaggerated behavior. 

So the question is: How do I feel about that?  I told you that this was my mistake.  And if I angered anybody, I got myself to thank for it.  So for those of you who’ve been the most aggressive, who’ve been the most angry at me – and said that Steve Wynn is a son-of-a-bitch, I’m not angry and I don’t take it personally.  I’m only not angry at anybody, I am proud of you. 

I’ve never had Mobile Five Star before.  I never had the Five Diamond and the Five Star.  We’re the first one in history to have that.  It’s one of the proudest things in my life.  And an executive can’t get the Mobile Five Star or the Five Diamond, only the staff can get it.  And no matter how angry any of you have been, you have not taken it to the tables.  And considering that I now understand how steamed you are and how betrayed some of you feel, I’m proud of you for being that classy.  Good job. 

So understand that I’m not angry at anybody and the most rabid anti-Steve guy in the room or gal has nothing to fear from me.  You’re not going to get fired – no matter what.  Let’s get that straight.  I’m standing here on the record saying, I’m not in the back hallways.  I’m not being frantic or hysterical.  All I’m doing here is standing here, apologizing for the mistake.  I’m saying that the thing I wanna do is keep my job as your representative.  I don’t want to get fired and have someone between us.  It is a vastly more complicated thing to do.  If the union gets a ‘yes’ vote from you, I’m required by law to sit down and bargain and a whole new set of things start in.  This is a public company and I have to represent the long term interests of the company.  These things are usually negotiated – they attempt to negotiate for a period of time.  You lose all your flexibility and you have to think very differently for each and every thing.  We have to revisit everything about our relationship. 

Some people have said that I lie.  No one has ever accused me of being a liar before.  I may be wrong.  I may make a wrong call, but I’ve never lied to anyone who worked for me before – ever. 

I like the relationship that we have now, even though some of you are not satisfied with it.  And I want the chance, I want the chance, to do what I can – based upon the understandings that we have – to put the smile back on your face.  If I can’t do that, you’ve always got the other option to fire me.  But I need for us to be together to take us where we want to go in this building.  I’m your guy.  I gotta be your guy in order for us to really get great.  And I wanna stay that way. 

I want you to remember to vote – please vote.  There are people who will vote for the union just to say “Screw you Steve” because they think that is a punishment.  That would be a much bigger mistake than I ever made.  God willing, you won’t make a decision on a basis as that.  You’ll give it more thought.  But if you don’t vote, people who are angry and being less considerate long term of the welfare of this company will vote.  And not voting is the same as voting for the union.  And no matter what, you can’t disassociate yourselves from this process because the results of this election will affect all of you for at least a year and there won’t be anything I can do about it.  We’ve distributed material that explains that to all of you.  So please vote. 

If I have any credibility based upon the 40 years I’ve been in business…  You know, I did make one promise.  I said, or at least my people did, I hope, when we were recruiting everybody that we’re gonna build a hell of a building and it’s going to be the best one in Las Vegas.  And if you come to work for me, you’ll be better off that you were before you came to work for me.  I think I kept that promise.  Now what happened in September, relative to what was before September was a mistake.  And it has interfered with you.  But in general, I kept the one promise that I was aware I was making.  And that was that we’d have the best hotel and this would be the best job, in one way or another, that you’ve ever had.  And no matter how much money you’re making, being aggravated and frustrated is a bad thing and it takes all of the fun out of it.  And I want to try to figure out how to put the fun back in.