Editorial: Union embraces Wilhelm for post

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:55 a.m.

He was instrumental in brokering an end to the six-year strike at the Frontier hotel-casino. Along with that remarkable accomplishment, he has helped maintain labor peace with other casinos. In addition, his has been a steadying presence on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

On Monday, Wilhelm's intelligence, perseverance and innovation were rewarded as he was elected president of the 300,000-member international Culinary Union. Wilhelm, 52, was a unanimous choice of the union's executive board that met in Chicago. He takes over on Aug. 1, serving the remaining three years of Ed Hanley's five-year term.

Wilhelm has spent 11 years as the Culinary Union's top negotiator with Las Vegas casinos, and fortunately he intends to stay active in Las Vegas. "I've made a lot of friends," Wilhelm said. "I wouldn't even think of not being involved here."

As reporter Jeff German noted in Tuesday's Sun, Wilhelm has been credited with a strategy that has allowed the gaming industry and the Culinary Union to grow as partners instead of as adversaries. This partnership, which has defied the conventional notion of labor-management struggles seen elsewhere in the nation, definitely has contributed to Las Vegas' booming economy.

The elevation of Wilhelm to head the international Culinary Union is a well-deserved promotion for one of the ascending leaders of the national labor movement.