Culinary strike to hit the Strip

Lynn Waddell

Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998 | 11:14 a.m.

A stagecoach, Santa Claus, a Circus Circus food truck and thousands of people will draw a line down the Strip Saturday night in an effort to draw national attention to the Frontier strike.

At 6 p.m., the five picketing unions and the national AFLCIO plan to walk from the Tropicana Hotel to the Frontier in what is expected to be Las Vegas' largest union march.

"It's going to be a who's who of the American labor movement, said Dee Taylor, Culinary Union organizer.

About 660 union workers began picketing the Strip hotel in September 1991 after working more than a year without a contract. The hotel's owners, the Elardi family, refused to renew union contracts.

Unlike other marches during the 15-month strike, the national AFL-CIO organized it to draw attention to the problems of all American workers. AFLCIO leaders from more than 30 states will be present.

"All the issues in this strike reflect those that unions have been dealing with nationaUy the last couple of decades," said David Sickler, AFL-CIO regional director. "This is important to working people all over the country.

What the unions are calling their "Line in the Sand" march will include a float, stagecoach and hoses. Circus Circus, a Frontier competitor, has provided daily food service to the striking workers and will be represented in the parade down Las Vegas Boulevard.

At the walk's end, a rally is scheduled on Fashion Show Drive. Five bands will play at the rally between speeches by union leaders. Country music star Willie Nelson is expected to attend.

Taylor said the Culinary Union expects 3,000 to 7,000 members from out of town, along with a contingent of national media.

Meanwhile, business owners are complaining that the Frontier strikers are abusing tourists and hurting the state's leading industry. Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Chairman Denny Weddle wrote to Gov. Bob Miller this week, asking him to attend a special chamber meeting next week.

"Our interest does not reflect a desire to infringe on the legal right of the picketers to picket," the letter said. "It is instead directed to their lack of restraint, display of highly offensive language and actions ... and state authorities' lack of action in reducing or controlling such flagrant behavior."

Taylor said he isn't concerned about the chamber's claims.

"I couldn't care less," Taylor said. "The chamber's anti-union. It always has been."

Weddle contends that the strikers have been filmed conducting illegal activities during the 15-month strike He included a letter from a Michigan tourist who complained about a striker making abusive remarks to him and others crossing the picket line.

"There was a pregnant woman ahead of us coming out of the hotel and she (the striker) started in on her," the tourist wrote. "First, along with many very unflattering remarks she yelled at this woman, 'I hope your baby dies. "'

To that, Taylor invoked the right to free speech.

"They are worried about one family. Well, what about the rights of 550 families?" he asked.