Picketing Frontier workers remain loyal

Thursday, Sept. 25, 1997 | 10:13 a.m.

Joe Daugherty, the Culinary Union's Frontier strike coordinator, said 235 original pickets continue to participate.

Most sign up for 24 hours of duty a week on the picket line, which is manned 24 hours a day, he said.

At any given time, Daugherty said, the union has 25-60 people at strike stations around the embattled Strip resort.

Workers went on strike Sept. 21, 1991, over a contract dispute with the hotel's owners, the Elardi family.

The strike, the longest in the nation, has attracted the country's top labor bosses.

National AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka are among those who have walked the picket line.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has joined rallies outside the Frontier several times during the strike.

Union officials said 110 babies have been born to mothers who have served on the picket line.

No striker has crossed the picket line since it was set up, officials said.

By Jeff German

archive