NLRB sides with union in Frontier literature

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 9:32 a.m.

The National Labor Relations Board has given the Culinary Union the right to distribute handbills at the doorstep of the strike-ridden Frontier hotel-casino.

The development is being hailed by union officials as having a profound effect on the union's organizing efforts throughout Las Vegas.

That includes the MGM Grand, where the union has gone to court to fight for the right to demonstrate on the mega-resort's sidewalks, and the Desert Inn, which has been bogged down in contract talks with the union.

"It is ironic that even as we're fighting successfully to keep the right to communicate on the sidewalks," said Culinary lawyer Richard McCracken, "under federal labor law, union members have the right to go to the actual hotel entrances, which is an even more effective way of getting the union's message to customers."

During the 33-month Frontier strike, the union has been allowed to pass out literature only along the hotel's sidewalks.

"This has implications all over the Strip," Culinary Staff Director D. Taylor said. "We always thought we had that right."

Added McCracken: "This is a significant, further step for labor free speech."

The NLRB issued a five-page unfair labor practices complaint against the Frontier on this subject on Monday.

The complaint stemmed from a March 16 incident in which two striking Frontier employees passing out handbills at the hotel's well-traveled rear entrance were ordered by hotel security to leave the property.

The union filed charges with the NLRB against the Frontier on their behalf, and that led to the complaint.

According to the complaint, only Culinary members who are Frontier employees are allowed to approach the entrances to distribute union literature.

Union leaders said they plan to test their new-found right within the next two weeks.

Frontier management, which has the right to fight the NLRB complaint, has resisted making public comments about the strike in recent months.

The union last month took out full-page ads in local newspapers listing dozens of elected officials and prominent citizens who are calling for binding arbitration to resolve the strike.