Casino surveillance technicians may have unique power to work covertly with managers to spy on other employees, or even pull off sabotage a la “Ocean's Eleven,” and therefore should not be able to unionize with other workers, attorneys for major Las Vegas casinos argued recently in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The Bellagio and Mirage—two of the Las Vegas strip's largest casinos—are asking the court to reverse a National Labor Relations Board decision to grant surveillance technicians the right to join an existing union with other employees. The technicians, represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers 501, AFL-CIO, claimed in a complaint to the board that the Bellagio refused their right to bargain.

At the crux of the case is whether the surveillance technicians, who have special skills to install cameras in often secret places on casino property to survey both patrons and employees, should fall under an exception to the National Labor Relations Act that considers certain employees “confidential.”