Judge quiets pickets

Bill Gang

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 9:14 a.m.

As the stage continues to be set for a major labor showdown, The Venetian hotel-casino has sacrificed its U.S. District Court fight to win an order from a district judge limiting Culinary Union activities.

Although The Venetian is at least a year and a half away from completion, District Judge Myron Leavitt granted a request from resort attorneys to limit the blaring union messages and prohibit unnecessary noise from union organizers.

The judge issued a temporary restraining order that will keep the amplified union messages in check at least until Aug. 7 when a hearing is scheduled to determine if the TRO should be extended into a preliminary injunction.

Venetian attorney Rodney Jean said he considers Leavitt's ruling to be "a victory for the community that will begin the process of regulating noise that could be damaging to the health of residents and tourists."

At a cost of $2 billion, and with 6,000 rooms, The Venetian would be a huge prize for the Culinary Union, but resort owner Sheldon Adelson isn't willing to make the resort on the site of the old Sands Hotel a union property.

Since even The Venetian's preview center won't be open until the end of the month, the resort's move is a preemptive strike to muzzle the union and, apparently, send a message that the resort is committed to being nonunion.

The resort came within a whisker of winning the order from Leavitt earlier this month until union attorney Richard McCracken pointed out that an identical legal action had been filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas and Judge Philip Pro had refused to grant a restraining order.

Leavitt then declined to issue his TRO until the federal court case was resolved. Jean solved that problem by simply dismissing the federal case.

Comments in Leavitt's courtroom last week made it clear that the labor disagreement has the potential to grow into a full-fledged, long-term dispute like the one that has scarred the Frontier hotel-casino for the past six years.

Although construction of the Venetian is not scheduled to be completed until early 1999, the Culinary Union has launched a street-side offensive to muscle an agreement from the reluctant resort.

Jean has complained that the union's use of bullhorns and high-decibel amplifiers to harass potential customers visiting the construction site is a health hazard.

The amplified music and chanting reached levels of 122 decibels -- above what OSHA permits in work places and above what the union would allow its members to endure on the job, Jean argued.

McCracken had urged Leavitt not to issue a restraining order against union activities -- like blocking driveways and jamming sidewalks with pickets -- that have not yet occurred.

But the judge ordered that anyway this week, explaining that he anticipates those activities could occur if ground rules were not established at this point.