Bennett defends strike food

Lynn Waddell

Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998 | 11:15 a.m.

Circus Circus Enterprises Chairman Bill Bennett said he wasn't trying to attract media attention by offering a catering truck to Frontier Hotel strikers.

A Circus Circus catering truck began bringing three meals a day to striking union members on the picket line Bennett Thursday. Frontier General Manager Tom Elardi last week called it a publicity stunt paid for by the unions.

"That is not true at all," Bennett said of suggestions that the union is paying for the meals. "I don't know where that cockeyed idea came from."

Bennett said he decided to provide the meals after Circus Circus union members asked for help. Many of Circus Circus' workers have joined the Frontier strikers on the picket line since it began last year.

"I didn't do this thing for publicity," Bennett said. Contrary to what Mr. Elardi said, it's not a promotional stunt. This is something a bunch of my employees asked me about."

Bennett said he is unsure of the cost to provide the meals, but it is not substantial. The chefs are donating their time and the truck can be used for other purposes, he said.

Elardi said last week that the ongoing strike is hurting his Strip competitors and may be responsible for lower table game revenues this past spring. But Bennett said that's not necessarily the case.

"It's not hurting us," he said of the strike. "I don't know that it's hurting anybody but the Frontier."

Frontier advertisements in the Los Angeles Times could have hurt competitors, because they made it look like the entire Strip was on strike, he said.