Culinary warns of Frontier fallout

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 10:37 a.m.

First published on Oct. 1, 1993

Culinary Union leaders were to warn a House panel today that Las Vegas faces widespread labor unrest in 1994 if the hitter Frontier Hotel strike is not resolved.

The House Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations, chaired by Rep. Pat Williams, DMont., scheduled a hearing this afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center on the violent, two-year-old strike that has attracted national attention.

"There's no question that, when an employer can get away with massive law-breaking and use its enormous wealth to keep workers on the street for two years, that has the potential to spill over into 1994," said John Wilhelm, western regional director of the international Culinary Union.

In a statement to the subcommittee, Frontier General Manager Tom Elardi said "substantial progress" toward a new collective bargaining agreement has been made during four months of fact-finding talks with the union.

"Substantial compromises have been made by both parties in an effort to conclude a new long-term agreement," he said.

Wilhelm, however, told the SUN the Frontier labor dispute, the longest in the nation, and a drawnout organizing fight at the new MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park could threaten the Culinary Union's contract negotiations next year with more than 30 casinos.

"If all of the smart people in the state of Nevada sat down and tried to dream up the worst possible scenario for Nevada in 1994, as gaming spreads across the country, they couldn't think of anything worse than a multi-property labor war in this town," Wilhelm said. "That would be an economic disaster."

Wilhelm and other Culinary officials planned to raise the issue before the subcommittee today as part of an effort to persuade the panel to relax federal labor laws and give states more authority to intervene in collective-bargaining disputes.

The union has teen pressing state gaming authorities to take disciplinary action against the Frontier during the strike, but authorities have been reluctant to become involved because of the strict labor laws.

"We ought to be demonstrating to the people in Washington that we can get along and we can work together to keep our own house in order and deal with outlaws no matter who they are," Wilhelm said.

Elardi said in his statement that efforts to negotiate a new contract were "totally frustrated" by the Culinary's insistence that the Frontier sign an agreement identical to one signed by Caesars Palace and The Mirage or be driven out of business.

Elardi said he did not plan to appear before the panel because of concerns that any public statement made by the Frontier or the union could be jeopardize fact-finding talks.

Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev., who is not a subcommittee member, was invited to sit on the panel with Williams.

"It sometimes seems like this strike has become a battle of wills between the two parties," Bilbray said in a prepared statement.

"What is sure is that its extended length has tarnished the image of Las Vegas and caused immeasurable harm to the local economy.

"It is my hope that this subcommittee hearing will make us better able to understand what led to the unfortunate situation at the Frontier and what we as federal officials can do to avoid future incidents."

Among those asked to testify were County Commissioners Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Bruce Woodbury.

Gates, who indicated her mother was a Culinary Union member, said in prepared remarks that the strike "harms every citizen in Las Vegas."

"Common sense suggests that American labor laws are not working. Many of the people who voted for me are asking about the validity of such an ineffective system.

"On the federal level," Gates planned to tell the subcommittee, "you have the beltway [usury of looking at the large picture. I, on the other hand, must look at the folks in my district who are struggling to support their children and to simply keep a roof over their heads."

Woodbury said states need more oversight in labor disputes involving privileged licensees.

In prepared remarks,, he said federal laws precluded the County Commission recently from taking action against the Frontier after it was alleged the resort was running deceptive ads about the strike in the Los Angeles Times.