Venice joins union battle

Tuesday, April 20, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

The labor battle at the Venetian megaresort has spread to an international front.

The Culinary Union has enlisted the help of the mayor of Venice and the Italian labor movement in its fight to organize hotel workers in Las Vegas.

Glen Arnodo, the Culinary Union's political director, went to Venice last week to drum up support for the union's cause.

But Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson on Monday called the excursion "harebrained" and a "laugh and a half."

He questioned why union bosses felt the need to dip into the pockets of their members for a "free trip" overseas.

"How desperate is the union getting?" Adelson asked. "It seems to me that that kind of negativism toward Las Vegas will lose the union's position in the court of public opinion."

Arnodo, following a news conference last week arranged by Italian labor leaders at the Venice City Council chambers, brought back a letter from Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari, who was critical of the $1.5 billion Venetian project.

The letter and a translated version were delivered to Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones on Monday.

In the letter, Cacciari charged that the Venetian, which has yet to open its doors, is harming "the image of Venice, its history and its traditions."

"Furthermore," Cacciari added, "the matter has been aggravated by the fact that the project has not in the slightest way been discussed with my administration."

Cacciari said his city will suffer damages once the Venetian opens and will "reap no benefits."

The Venice mayor urged Jones to look into his concerns, and he said he was conveying his unhappiness to Italy's foreign and cultural affairs ministers.

Jones today said there was nothing much she could do about Cacciari's concerns because the Venetian is in Clark County.

"They'd have to take it to the County Commission," she said.

Arnodo said he went to Venice last week to inform city officials there that Adelson was using the city's name to "wage war on the workers of Las Vegas.

"What was clear to us is that the city officials we spoke to really view this as a ripoff of their city," Arnodo said. "They are ready and willing to help us in the labor fight."

Adelson said Cacciari, whom he called a socialist, and other Venice officials tried more than a year ago to get him to contribute $300,000 to the city's cultural scene in return for their blessing on his project.

He said the request, which he considered an "unreasonable demand," bordered on blackmail.

Over the last year, Adelson added, he repeatedly has tried to persuade Cacciari to come to Las Vegas to visit the Venetian.

"I think it's unfortunate that the mayor doesn't see the quality of the authenticity with which we've reproduced the Venetian," he said.

A year ago, Cacciari wrote a letter to Dorit Raines, one of Adelson's historians, expressing his dismay in much stronger language.

"Never before in the history of the city has its image been exploited for commercial ends in such a vulgar way," Cacciari wrote. "As you can well imagine, I do not intend in any way to publicize or support this initiative. Indeed, together with my legal department, I will be exploring the possibility of taking legal recourse against such exploitation."

Cacciari then went on to suggest that Venetian officials could smooth things over by working together with the Venice City Council on a project that would benefit his city.

Arnodo, meanwhile, brought back a petition last week signed by 11 professors and administrators at the Institute of Architecture at the University of Venice protesting the Venetian's design.

The professors called Adelson's architectural recreations a "mockery" and a "disgrace" to their city.

Adelson on Monday would not say when he planned to open the Venetian, but officials previously have set a date no later than May 2.

The union is planning a massive demonstration on the Venetian's sidewalks opening night.