Labor, politics and the Trop

wplog

Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007 | 3:38 p.m.

The Democratic National Committee has canceled the last of its six sanctioned presidential debates, with organizers citing the ongoing strike of Hollywood television and film writers.

The debate was set to take place on Dec. 10 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, a regular picket site for striking workers. As the New York Times notes, another strike being threatened by the network's news writers also cast a pall over the event. There are no plans to reschedule.

Most of the Democratic candidates had pledged not to cross the picket lines, and the cancellation provides high-profile support to an already high-profile strike. The incident showcases the power of Big Labor in the Democratic Party and suggests that the candidates were indeed serious when they promised to join Las Vegas' Culinary Union on the picket line this summer if their contract talks went south. For the record, those promises still stand — and the Culinary could be calling in favors soon. On Friday, it meets with representatives of the Tropicana, the only major holdout in this year's contract talks.

As the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted this week, the talks could get ugly. The paper quotes Mark Ricciardi, the Tropicana's local labor lawyer, as saying there should be no "sacred cows" in the Culinary's contracts. It's a clear reference to the

union's health care and pension plans, which the Culinary considers sacred and Tropicana wants to challenge.

The Sun took a look at the situation in September, and not much has changed — at least not in Vegas.

The Tropicana is on the hot seat in Atlantic City as the New Jersey Casino Control Commission considers whether to renew its license in light of the new ownership's elimination of nearly 900 jobs — roughly a quarter of the casino's work force.

Those hearings began last week, and the Atlantic City casino and hotel workers union — an affiliate of UNITE HERE, like the Culinary — is taking the stand against management. As the Press of Atlantic City notes, things got off to a rocky start after a state investigative report including customer complaints about bedbugs, roaches, overflowing toilets and dirty rooms was submitted as evidence.

The company's owner, William Yung III said the conditions were the result of union "sabotage."

A new twist came yesterday, as the Associated Press reports, when Fred Burro, the former president of the Tropicana Casino and Resort, testified that he was fired for resisting massive job cuts imposed by the new owners, and for alerting state regulators that the cuts were planned.

According to the AP, Buro said the cuts soon manifested themselves in dirty hotel rooms and overflowing garbage cans on the casino floor, resulting in numerous patrons complaints to the casino and to state regulators.

The Culinary has complained of the same conditions at the Tropicana here and the union's leaders have called on state regulators to take action. The company has denied the union's claims.