MGM Mirage fires more than 400 middle managers

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

MGM Mirage Inc., the largest casino operator on the Las Vegas Strip, on Monday notified more than 400 middle management employees they would be terminated immediately in a cost-saving move, the company said.

The decision will save $75 million annually and came after the company saw weakness since August at its properties, which include Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mirage, and Mandalay Bay, spokesman Alan Feldman told The Associated Press.

The move is the largest and swiftest by a casino operator in the current economic downturn, although use of so-called "extra board" employees who take fill-in shifts as needed has been down citywide.

... The cutbacks were at the middle-level corporate and property management areas in all departments from marketing to accounting and affected employees in Michigan and Mississippi, though the bulk were in Las Vegas.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/14/financial/f185057D90.DTL&tsp=1

[Systematic Chaos]

1. As a former employee of that company...

...I hope that corporation dies a slow, painful death. I feel bad for the displaced workers, but I have not a shred of sympathy for that company and its discriminatory hiring practices and all of their other bullshit. Likewise for Station Casinos.

[Systematic Chaos]

3. I should add that this is the company which laid off many of the OVER TWENTY THOUSAND...

...Vegas casino employees after 9/11, many of whom had been in their casinos for upwards of 10 years (and many of whom were never reinstated once business picked up again)... and yet were screaming from the rafters about their "generous" $2 million donation to 9/11 relief efforts.

That, and the patriotic pissing contest on the Strip, led by MGM Mirage properties putting up hyperpatriotic displays on their electronic marquee signs and flags the size of football fields on the sides of their hotel towers, was quite a disgusting sight.

[intheflow]

7. MGM casinos are soul-less.

They built themselves right up on the Gulf Coast right after Katrina, but left the surrounding community lying in ruin.



Here's a protest on Katrina's 1 year anniversary outside the Beau Rivage Casino (an MGM Mirage property) in Biloxi, MS. They had the gall to reopen on the anniversary. The twisted metal and open parking lot where the protesters were standing was a full-service gas station before the storm. That's what the rest of the neighborhood looked like. :grr: They trucked in lawn and flowers and new, fully grown trees to make it look like nothing had happened, for the media. :grr:

They could have afforded to give $100 million after 9-11 and Katrina. Just the Las Vegas MGM casino made $7.3 billion in 2003. They could have rebuilt worker housing on the coast, but they don't really care about investing in communities or people. Their only purpose is to make obscene amounts of money. :puke:

[medeak]

9. tell me about the Stations? n/t

[calimary]

2. I'd just like to know when all these damned layoffs END.

And when these reckless corporations stop pinching pennies by screwing their workers.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

4. IT IS ALL IN A STATE OF IMPLOSION AND COLLAPSE

[Dr.Phool]

5. Las Vegas was better off when the mob was running it.

At least they had scruples.

[tomreedtoon]

6. And you weren't fired by the Mob. You were fired upon.

So you didn't starve to death on welfare. They would give you a good meal with lots of pasta and wine to make you sleepy, a quick bang, and you were in Hell before you knew it. And your widow and children would get insurance benefits.

Isn't starving to death, unemployable in a one-industry town with nothing else for miles around, a lot crueler fate?

[medeak]

8. you knew who your boss was and he looked after you

now no one knows their boss...some corporate ass in an ivory tower. My Dad did a verbal history for the state museum...although being black listed on the strip for going to district attorney for being asked to skim $ off his payroll of musicians...he would rather work the for mob than corporate america any day

[Bushfire]

10. As someone with connections in this industry

there isn't much loss in business right now. Try getting a room at discount in Vegas from now 'til say July. You'll pay a premium actually. MGM is probably laying off due to recent mergers. This industry is typically recession proof. Doesn't mean though that MGM is a saint for an employer.