Saturday, September 06, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Union aims to grow membership count

Organization campaign at Aladdin a major priority, Culinary official says

Culinary Workers Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor, shown here last December, said the union is working actively to organize staffs at nonunion hotels and add to its membership. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

The Culinary's army of 47,000 housekeepers, porters and food-service employees is actively recruiting workers to its ranks, Culinary Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said.

Front-burner fights to represent nonunion hotel workers are now under way at the Aladdin and the Palms, while longer-term battles with The Venetian, Imperial Palace, Station Casinos and other nonunion locals operators remain in Taylor's plans.

The Culinary represents hotel and food-service workers at almost all Strip resorts and most downtown hotels.

Taylor, the state's most powerful labor official, said an organization campaign at the Aladdin is the union's most pressing priority.

The bankrupt casino is slated to be sold next year to a group fronted by Planet Hollywood Chairman Robert Earl, a transaction that Taylor said makes the union's Aladdin effort urgent.

The Culinary's top elected boss said organizing decisions are made based on strategic and opportunistic priorities, with Aladdin's situation demanding action on both counts.

"We weren't going to deal with the Aladdin until it emerged from bankruptcy," Taylor said. "Once the bankruptcy process was under way, the Aladdin workers contacted us. They know the new owners only have to retain the workers (after taking over the property) for 90 days."

About 75 Aladdin workers serve on the Culinary's organizing committee for the property. The committee members went public with their decision to support union representation in May.

Union supporters at the Aladdin filed a number of unfair labor practices charges against Aladdin management in July, claiming that bosses were violating federal labor law in an effort to prevent growing Culinary support.

The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Aladdin on Aug. 29 based on the charges, with a hearing on the matter slated for Dec. 2.

Taylor noted the difference between prospects for current Aladdin executives and the megaresort's front-line workers. Aladdin's top bosses stand to collect hundreds of thousands in contractually guaranteed severance pay if they stay until the ownership transition takes place.

"But the workers have no contract, no real security, aside from the assurances they've made," he said. "The present operators can give these workers security."

Aladdin executives say front-line workers should feel secure in their jobs.

"At the Aladdin, we have a proud history of respecting and protecting our employees' rights to job security, fair wages and secure benefits," Aladdin spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said.

Earl on Friday reaffirmed his ownership group's intention to keep all of the current workers, but said he's not adamantly opposed to union representation.

"I'm not fixed in any position; we have an open mind," Earl said, noting that the prospective owners plan to demonstrate their commitment to the workers after they acquire the property. "I've owned businesses that are fully unionized and had harmonious relationships (with the workers). I have absolutely no philosophical objection to unions whatsoever."

George Maloof's Palms also sticks in the Culinary craw.

Culinary organizing committee members at the Palms have yet to publicly declare their union support as those at the Aladdin have, but the boutique Flamingo Road property is high on Taylor's agenda.

George Maloof's made no secret of his belief that his workers are better treated than any other Las Vegas hotel employees.

The NLRB also filed a complaint against the Palms on Aug. 29, also based on unfair labor practices charges leveled by the Culinary and its sympathizers.

Palms General Manager Jim Hughes said he's confident the property will rebut the charges when they're aired in a December hearing.

"We looked into the charges, and we don't think these charges have merit," Hughes said Friday.

The Culinary's Palms organizing committee members have yet to "go public" by wearing their union badges and openly recruiting co-workers.

Taylor said the Palms is an "intriguing" organizing opportunity, because the Maloof family has always been union-friendly.

"The (Maloof-owned) Sacramento Kings are union, their Arco Arena is union," Taylor said. "Yet they run an active antiunion campaign at the Palms. I don't understand why."

Station Casinos' chain of eight major locals casinos under the Station and Fiesta brands is another active Culinary organizing campaign, but one Taylor admits is probably a longer-term battle than those at the Aladdin and the Palms.

Taylor is still agitated about Station's purchase of the Santa Fe, now Santa Fe Station, and the Fiesta, now Fiesta Rancho, three years ago, deals that resulted in wholesale job losses for significant numbers of workers.

"No one could have predicted the explosion of the Las Vegas locals market," he said. "We view these efforts as long-term campaigns."

Other nonunion locals casino operators, including Coast Casinos' The Orleans, Gold Coast and Suncoast as well as Icahn Gaming's two Arizona Charlie's properties, will likely wait for organization efforts, he said.

"We can't even talk to Coast until we deal with Station," he said, explaining that Station's dominant position mandates targeting the locals giant first.

The two remaining major nonunion Strip properties, The Venetian and Imperial Palace, will probably also have to wait for the Culinary to ratchet up organization efforts.

"The Venetian is a long-term campaign," he said of the Sheldon Adelson-owned megaresort that opened four years ago. Recalling the acrimonious relationship the union's had with Adelson, Taylor said time is on the workers' side.

"The Venetian spews venom at everyone and sues everyone," Taylor said. "But ultimately it's the workers' right to organize, (Adelson notwithstanding)."

The Venetian's executives didn't return phone messages on Friday.

The Imperial Palace, the Strip's longest-standing nonunion major hotel, will have to wait for a significant organizing effort as well, he said.

"Each one of these hotels is a fight, a big fight," Taylor said. "We can't spread ourselves too thin, like the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq. Each one of these is a battle and you can't have battles all the time. You have to pick your fights."