Union says talks are continuing, strike on hold

Robert Macy

Wednesday, July 1, 1998 | 9:23 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - A contract involving some 7,000 union carpenters expired at midnight Tuesday as talks continued to avoid a strike that could impact this city's unprecedented building boom.

"Both sides are back at the table trying to see if we can come up with something more reasonable," Jim Sala, director of organizing for the Southern California-Nevada Regional Council of Carpenters, said Tuesday.

Members of the union rejected a new contract Sunday night by a vote of 1,221-571. The pact called for an increase of $5.83 per hour in wages and benefits over the next four years.

Carpenters make about $29 per hour in wages and benefits under the three-year contract that expired Tuesday. Sala said that figure includes $20 in wages and $9 that goes into a benefits pool.

Money and the length of the contract are the main sticking points, Sala said. Many union members are pushing for a three-year contract.

Union stewards fanned out across Southern Nevada Tuesday instructing members to remain on the job while talks continue.

"We plan to continue to work as long as negotiations are going on," Sala said.

Area contractors have agreed to make any new contract retroactive to July 1, he added.

With billions of dollars in new resort construction under way and Las Vegas experiencing an unprecedented building boom, a strike could have a significant impact.

Most major resorts such as The Venetian, Paris and Mandalay Bay have work continuation agreements with the unions to prevent any shutdowns.

Alan Feldman, a spokesman for Mirage Resorts Inc., said officials aren't sure what impact a strike might have on their $1.6 billion Bellagio resort, which is in the late stages of construction.

"It is our belief that this will be resolved before it has any impact," Feldman said of work on the 3,005-room hotel-casino, scheduled to open Oct. 15.

"If it does go to a strike, we would probably have to set up a second gate where other unions could come through," Feldman said. "Obviously we hope it doesn't come to that."