Union will pay police

Joshua B. Good

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

First published Spt. 8, 1992.

The Culinary Union's Labor Day demonstration at the Frontier Hotel was well orchestrated that the union has already made arrangements to pay for the overtime of Metro Police officers.

"We'll cooperate with Metro Police. We'll work it out," said Culinary official D. Taylor, who said Metro will submit a bill to the union for the 73 officers on hand.

The officers, each earning 2.5 times normal pay because of the holiday, smoothly escorted protesters to buses during the lunch-hour demonstration. They made 179 arrests.

The peaceful, and largely ceremonial, sit-in in front of the strike-bound resort shut down the Strip for nearly two hours Monday.

Union workers spilled into the street to bring attention to their year-long battle with the Frontier. Contract negotiations have been at a standstill since Sept. 21, 1991.

The sit-in was planned in such detail that those who attended knew what roles they were to play well in advance. In fact, Metro Police and the union began negotiating two months ago, and by Monday both sides had worked out exactly how the union members would be arrested.

Those taken into custody were driven to the closed Landmark Hotel where they were photographed, cited and released.

The process went so quickly that the first group to be arrested made it back to the protest before the last strikers were taken into custody.

Each of the 300 or BO union members and supporters who attended had a well-defined role. Some chanted, some passed out water and ice, some provided cushions to the people who sat in the street. Some were just arrested.

The strikers weren't the only ones who played their parts in the ceremony.

Nevada Highway Patrol officers steered cars away from the area by blocking south-bound motorists.

The platoon of print and electronic media stuck cameras in the faces of those arrested, recorded catchy sound-bites and furiously scribbled down juicy quotes.

The parts played by plainclothes Metro Criminal Intelligence officers were a little unclear, however.

They made no arrests, didn't wear badges or other equipment that would identify them as police officers. They did, however, videotape the whole production.

Monday's event was a peaceful contrast to previous protests that sparked bomb threats, vandalism and fights, said Metro Police spokesman Lt. Carl Fruge.

"Because of that, our intelligence officers are working behind the scenes," Fruge said. "They are not here as big brother. ... We are not trying to create files on union people."

The union and Frontier management also had their share of photographers - both still and video - who kept tight surveillance on the event.

The protest climaxed with with a confrontation between the union members and their management nemesis - Frontier General Manager and co-owner Thomas Elardi.

Elardi showed up just as the last of the arrested strikers were bused off.

Flanked by a group of stern looking security guards, Elardi stood under a sidewalk umbrella erected in front of the Frontier and tried to get some relief from the 91-degree noon temperature.

Clad in a gray business suit with a dress shirt open at the collar, Elardi waited patiently for the press to gather.

But before the makeshift press conference could begin, the remaining strikers marched within earshot and taunted him with insults and demands for a contract.

Shouts of "Take his gaming license away from him! ... You old cheapskate, we'll shut you down," and "Elvis is ashamed of you, Elardi," could be heard

Elardi responded by challenging the union leaders to return to the negotiating table.

"We're willing to compromise on any issue," Elardi said. "We just don't think compromise is the hotel giving everything and the union giving nothing.

"But they have no intention of negotiating," he said of the union.

The union wants Elardi to agree to the same contract that Culinary workers and bartenders have at other Las Vegas casinos.

Frontier management reportedly wants to cut some workers' wages, stop paying into the union's pension fund and reduce health benefits.

The Labor Day demonstration was ostensibly aimed at gaining the attention and allegiance of gamblers and tourists who flock to Las Vegas.

Some inside the Frontier took time out from plugging quarters into the slot machines to watch the demonstration. But none of those interviewed said the strike would prevent them from coming back to the Frontier.

"Why don't they go somewhere else here in town and get a job?" asked Iowa resident LuDean Suckow, 55, as she watched the pickets being arrested.

If anything, Suckow said, because of the union workers' practice of insulting her every time she crosses the picket line, she has lost sympathy for their cause.

She also stays inside the Frontier instead of venturing out to other Strip casinos because of the strikers, she said.

Other drivers passing by the protest staging area showed their support by honking their horns and giving the thumbsup sign to the strikers.