But on Monday, the United Auto Workers union shook things up a bit.

The UAW filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board in Hartford Monday afternoon seeking to unionize slot technicians at the casino — technicians who are also being courted by another union.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which filed paperwork last week, and the UAW have each filed petitions with the labor board seeking to unionize slot technicians, electronic bench technicians, field service technicians and senior field service technicians. Both stated in their petitions that at least 30 percent of workers in the prospective bargaining unit support their union's efforts.

The only difference between the two petitions is that the UAW included workers at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, which is scheduled to open May 17.

“It's beginning to look like a feeding frenzy, with the unions fighting among themselves for who will try to collect the dues and initiation fees from Foxwoods employees,” said Steve Heise, vice president of human resources at Foxwoods, in a prepared statement. “This suggests that the unions may be more interested helping the unions' treasuries than in helping employees.”

The UAW also filed a second petition Monday, seeking to unionize racebook writers and dual-rate racebook writers in the casino's off-track betting area. That petition is the fifth to be filed at Foxwoods seeking to unionize workers.

The UAW filed its first petition last year seeking to unionize table-game and poker dealers. An election was held in late November in which dealers voted in favor of union representation.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which owns and operates Foxwoods, is currently appealing an administrative law judge's ruling, delivered in March, that stated that the results from the election should be certified.

The International Union of Operating Engineers was up next, and an election date has been set for May 1.

The IBEW followed, filing its petition last week.

And finally, the UAW filed its two petitions on Monday.

The Mashantuckets have questioned the NLRB's jurisdiction as each petition has been filed, and has continued to question the applicability of the National Labor Relations Act to the tribe and its casino.

As for the overlapping petition in relation to slot technicians, the UAW released a statement Monday evening in which a poker dealer said “another union jumped into Foxwoods at the last minute.”

“These things happen from time to time and there are AFL-CIO procedures to sort this out,” said Steve Peloso, a 16-year dealer at Foxwoods, in a prepared statement released by the UAW. “We're sure that, in the end, the slot techs will be part of our great union effort.”

But John Shalvey, lead organizer for the IBEW Local 99, said the UAW began collecting union authorization cards from workers in this particular unit at the same time that it was collecting cards from dealers.

When a petition was filed on behalf of the dealers, but not the slot technicians, those workers felt like they had been “left at the altar,” said Shalvey. So workers sought out the IBEW.

“From what I understand, we have overwhelming support,” Shalvey said, adding that the IBEW has support of 70 percent of the workers in the potential bargaining unit.

A hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday in Hartford. Attorneys for the tribe and the IBEW will discuss any issues they have about the bargaining unit or holding a union election.

Both unions are affiliates of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions, and it is possible that the group may step in and ask one of the unions to withdraw its petition.

Michael Cass, a supervisory examiner with the NLRB in Hartford, said there is a procedure set up to handle a situation such as this when a dispute arises between two AFL-CIO unions in which the group can step in and act as a mediator. If that happens, then the hearing could be delayed up to 40 days, he said.

“The whole basis of this is trying to avoid extra work for our agency, the unions or the employer,” said Cass. “So there's usually an attempt to resolve that situation before we move forward with the hearing.”

Representatives from the UAW would not comment on whether they would reach out to the AFL-CIO.

Shalvey said he is unsure whether the AFL-CIO will intervene, or if the union will simply move forward and see what the labor board decides after hearing testimony from both unions.