Letter: Luncheon for Interfaith Council merely for dialogue

Monday, April 12, 1999 | 11:40 a.m.

We invited members of the Interfaith Council to lunch because we believed that there might come a time when they would be asked to participate in a Culinary Union activity against the hotel.

Rather than wait for something negative to happen, we decided to extend an invitation to members of the council to meet with us.

We felt that many council members probably didn't have enough information to make an informed decision about the effect of the Venetian's employee benefits, programs and management philosophy on members of their community.

Letters of invitation were sent to people who identified themselves as members of the Interfaith Council when they signed their name to an advertisement that ran in the newspaper last year. (If we missed any members, we apologize and invite you to contact our office if you would like to set up a meeting.)

I believe any suggestion that inviting members of the council for a discussion was an attempt to "neutralize" them insults their intelligence and their work in the community.

That characterization diminishes our joint efforts to get beyond the tired stereotypes that surround labor issues and to focus on the effect of labor management policies on the worker.

The Venetian is about to embark on a business venture that will employ thousands of people in jobs that provide outstanding wages and benefits.

We assume that many leaders in the community believe, as we do, that we have a responsibility to create for working men and women the opportunity to improve themselves; to advance on the job; and to be a part of a workplace that recognizes hard work and a job well done.

We will continue our discussions with community leaders to help us meet those objectives.

DAVE NEWTON, Venetian vice president of Human Resources