Frontier picket line to stretch to LA

Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998 | 12:07 p.m.

Walking the picket line outside the Frontier Hotel is preparing 12 strikers for a 300 mile protest hike to Los Angeles.

"My son thinks I'm nuts," said Sonja Washington, one of the picketers embarking on the hike Saturday. "I wanted to do it so my children won't have to fight to earn a decent living and be stuck with minimum-wage jobs."

The strikers will march along Interstate 15 to Los Angeles in hopes of convincing Southern Californians not to patronize the Frontier. Four unions have been picketing the resort since September.

"Southern California is the lifeblood of tourism in Las Vegas," said John Wilhelm, head of the Western region of H.E.R.E., a culinary union. "We are going to follow the legacy of the civil rights movement. We hope to get significant national attention focused on this march."

Tom Elardi, general manager of the Frontier, could not be reached for comment. Two weeks ago he said he had not been contacted by the unions in months.

The strikers plan to march through every town along the way, and gather Jan . 17 on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall. They will walk about 20 miles a day and sleep in recreational vehicles that will follow them.

"I'm not really worried about it, " said meat cutter Chris Mann, who will participate in the hike. "I've been walking six hours a day on the picket line since Sept. 21."

Washington, a Culinary Union member, said she has been physically preparing for the march since November, when she began going for 10mile hikes with other strikers.

"It's going to be tough going, without showers every other day and being without cable and a telephone, but the hardest part for me being a single parent is being away from my 4-year-old daughter," Washington said. "She can't visit me because I know she will want to stay."

Other union members and supporters from Las Vegas and Los Angeles are expected to join the march at different points.

Southern California union representatives said Thursday they have planned fundraiser in Hollywood on Jan. 18 to help support the Frontier strikers and their families.

"We admire them (Las Vegas unions) and we stand for them," said Maria Elena Durazo, head of Los Angeles culinary union H.E.R.E. Local 11. "We are willing to do whatever we can to help our brothers and sisters of Las Vegas."

Jack Stowers, secretary treasurer of the San Bernardino Central Labor Union, said the union will provide food and supplies to hikers when they cross the California border.

Wilhelm said it is one of the few times local unions have united with those in other cities and states.

"We intend to forge a direct link with the unions of Southern California and spotlight attention of everyone in Southern California on the strike," Wilhelm said.

The march will also draw attention to labor's plight nationwide, Wilhelm said.

"This is not about a 15-cent difference in wages," he said. It 's about somebody who thinks they can destroy workers' rights and unions."

The Elardi family, owners of the Frontier, have refused to negotiate with the unions for more than a year. The family bought the property in 1989 with union contracts still in effect When those contracts expired; they were not renewed.