State the Union

Ed Dodrill Pauline Bell and Richard N. Velotta

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

Anyone who has had occasion to go to the Frontier Hotel along the Las Vegas Strip has seen them.

The sign-carrying pickets have been ever present for more than a year. Today, it's the single most visible element of organized labor in Las Vegas.

Curious visitors often are taken aback by the verbal assaults that meet them when they make their way to the Frontier.

Once a-year tourists to the city also are astonished: "Weren't you guys picketing LAST year when I came.' "

Locals who hear or read news accounts of confrontations have grown oblivious to the strike and the issues that caused it. To many, it's a headache that just won't go away.

But while the labor dispute between Culinary Workers Local No. 226 and the Frontier is the only contact some have ever had with a union, there are indications that what wee thought to be a dying breed may be on the rebound.

Unions are normally active around Labor Day and they should be quite visible in Las Vegas this week as a rally in support of the Culinary Local will bring thousands of boosters to the city. To labor leaders in the city, it's somewhat symbolic of what's happening to undone in general.

The election of Bill Clinton, an avowed champion of the working stiff, has some leaders optimistic and they're seeing their ranks swell.

They're also disseminating the message that unions mean more than strikes and confrontation. they're providing training and education for workers and packing some political muscle in support of candidates who back their cause s.

Jim Arnold of the Culinary Union, said membership has grown from 16,000 five years ago to nearly 30,000 today.

"I think the position of the unions is very strong today," said Arnold. "The solidarity among the unions has never been stronger. As long as workers are denied reasonable salaries or adequate benefit packages, there will be unions.

"We are dealing with the Frontier Hotel now, but we are dealing with people who have no business sense. The money that they have lost so far would pay for a union contract for the next 10 years. They will never gain back what this strike has cost them. The other resorts have agreed to the benefiting and they are doing very well," he said.

The Frontier strike, he said was based on union demands for grievance procedures, a pension and a health and welfare package.

"You have to have an established procedure for grievances and many of our workers are in jobs that don't enable them to save for a pension," said Arnold. "They would be on welfare. The same is true of health benefits. A maid can't afford today's medical bills."

Arnold said the state would end up paying the bills for these people if they had to turn to welfare for pensions or health

He did admit the role of the union was changing and they are now more involved in job training they ever had been. "That is one area where we are lax'" said Arnold. "The carpenters had an excellent apprenticeship program for many years and yet, we did little in that direction. Today, we are working with hotel management to develop training so a maid can move up to waitress, and so forth.

"The hotels can't do it alone, and it would be hard for the union to do it. But together, we can provide training that has been long overdue," he said.

He said the importance of training will take on added value as the new resorts under construction prepare to open.

"There is no way they will be able to have qualified people available if we don't Fe together and run some training programs."

Unions also are taking a more active role in the political process and he said the recent election showed the power unions can have at the polls.

"In the past, the unions did not get involved in elections," said Arnold. "Now, we are getting our members registered to vote and we are taking a stand on many issues. It is important because it affects workmen's compensation, taxes and many other important issues."

There's no doubt that a 7.5month strike against five major Strip resorts in 1989 hurt Musicians Union Local 369. It also hurt the image of the city that bills itself as the Entertainment Capital of the World, said Local 369 president Dan Trinter.

The strike ended Jan. 23, 1990 with a four-year contract that eliminated guaranteed work for celebrity room musicians and enabled hotels to replace stage production orchestras with taped music and synthesizers.

"You can go to any city in the country and hear a synthesizer ... But, we have tourists coming here and wondering, 'Where did the Entertainment Capital of the World go?" Trinter said. "It seems like a terrible waste of resources. The artists that are here provide something that's not available in Everytown.

The strike and subsequent contract damaged the union's ability to keep its members employed. AB a result, membership has slipped from about 1,300 in 1989 to between 1,150 and 1,200 presently as local musicians left to teach school or pursue opportunities in other cities.

But, Trinter is hopeful that a healing process of sorts is under way.

"We won't go back to restrictions on electronic or taped music, but the experimentation phase is over and now the hotels are trying to reach some kind of balance under which they use both tapes and electronic music but in conjunction with live music, Trinter said.

AB an example, he named the Desert Inn, which offers high-end, high-quality entertainment combining hightech with live musicians.

"They are the ones that are prospering," he said.

And, the same trend is taking hold at the Sands, which recently added a live drummer to its taped music. That lasted about six weeks and now the Sands is planning to add several more musicians, Trinter said.

"We're sort of hoping that we can aggressively bring it (live music) back" by demonstrating the entertaining music that's available and also showing the hotels that live music is profitable consideration.

"But, we very understaffed 'We had 14 people during the strike, we have five now. It's like rowing upstream. We have very limited personnel, but we're having an effect. I wish we had more bodice to dedicate to this effort because I think it is beneficial to the hotels and the town as well as to the musicians "

Dennis Kist, president of the Southern Nevada Central Labor Council said he's seen a recent increase in the popularity of unions.

"I think that they (unions) have probably taken an upswing lately simply because the economy is so bad workers reach out to undone to help them get better benefits - particularly health care," said Dennis Kist.

One of the major selling point for joining undone in Southern Nevada is that their health plane are better than what non-organized shops can offer, he a dded.

Admittedly, union membership declined during what he calls "the Reagan years,," but Kist said that is now turning around

"Not only are we gaining more membership, we're gaining strength politically as well," he said.

Southern Nevada has approximately 60,000 union members, but Kist said that number "ebbs and flows"" depending on the construction activity at any given time. Union membership numbers could go as high as 75,000 locally if school teachers and state employees are included, he added.

Blackie Evans, executive secretary and treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, said the past 10 to 12 years has been rough on unions and the Nevada unions felt the pressure.

"Things are getting a little better and I believe they will improve. The Clinton win was good for unions. I believe he will appoint eome people who are sympathetic to unions.

"Our people don't even go before the Labor Relations Board any more. It takes about two to three years to go through the system and they always rule against the unions," he said.

archive