Union sets three protests at Venetian

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999 | 11:45 a.m.

Three protests are planned at the Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip over the next eight days, as several out-of-state unions throw their weight behind the Culinary Workers Union.

On Thursday the California State Employees Association and the Cement Masons union plan to walk a sympathy picket at the resort. As many as 1,500 people are expected to participate, not including Culinary Union members who also attend. Both unions are holding conventions in Las Vegas this week.

The Culinary Union plans to follow with its own rally Aug. 9, followed by a Sheetmetal Workers sympathy rally on Aug. 11. There have been three union protests since the resort opened May 4.

"Word travels all over the country," Jim Arnold, chief executive of Culinary Local 226, said. "Whenever there's a group in town that wants to show support, we'll have a rally. There's no real set schedule. We're just spreading the word that there's a serious problem there."

A spokeswoman for the Venetian said the pickets were a way "to justify the unions' expense accounts and placate the members."

"The Culinary Union knows the Venetian offers pay and benefits better than any (resort) on the Strip," Evette Davis said. "This has nothing to do with the well-being of the team members in the Venetian at all."

The union has been demanding the unionization of the Venetian since it opened. The Venetian has been trying to get a restraining order against the union, but that request was denied by a federal judge, who ruled in April that the union could not be banned from the sidewalks in front of the resort.