Columnist Jeff German: New Frontier anniversary ‘Super’ day in own right

Sunday, Jan. 31, 1999 | 9:56 a.m.

THIS IS a big weekend for working men and women throughout Nevada and the nation.

And believe it or not, it has nothing to do with today's Super Bowl.

Lost in the hoopla on the Strip over whether Atlanta will do the "Dirty Bird" on Denver in Miami is the first anniversary of the opening of the New Frontier.

It's been a year since Kansas industrialist Phil Ruffin took control of the old strike-ridden Frontier and ended one of the country's longest-ever labor walkouts.

It's been a year since the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Culinary Union's spiritual leader, led hundreds of workers and union members back into the New Frontier with Ruffin to bring a triumphant conclusion to one of the saddest, yet most uplifting chapters in the history of organized labor in the country.

In the past year, the 550 Frontier strikers, who spent 6 years, 4 months and 10 days on the picket line, have become legends within the American labor movement. They have come to symbolize what labor regards as its national resurgence.

During the epic battle with the Elardi family, every major labor boss in the country, from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on down, took time off from their busy schedules to walk the picket line. Even Labor Secretary Alexis Herman found her way to the New Frontier after the strike ended to praise the workers.

During a trip to Las Vegas last March, Vice President Al Gore also couldn't resist heaping accolades upon the strikers.

"They struggled together and suffered together, and they were victorious together," Gore said, while touring the Culinary Union's training center downtown.

But a year ago, as the strikers prepared to return to the New Frontier amid a crush of local and national reporters, Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO's energetic secretary-treasurer, may have best captured the euphoria of the moment for union members here.

"Las Vegas is now a beacon of hope for every working family in our labor movement because Las Vegas is a union city," Trumka told the cheering crowd.

"Las Vegas is where workers and employers and unions can build a new model of labor relations for our country -- a place where businessman like Phil Ruffin can thrive and where the American dream can survive."

For Ruffin, the dream lives on.

Last week, though acknowledging the past year has been a struggle at times, Ruffin said he "made the right decision" to compete for business among the gaming giants of the Strip.

"It's gone very well," he said. "I couldn't be happier. This is a terrific asset and an unbeatable location."

Ruffin has made several renovations that have begun to turn the New Frontier into a popular hangout. He now has a foot-stomping country-western lounge in association with singing star Mickey Gilley and a much-improved sports book, and he's working to upgrade his convention facilities.

The New Frontier also has surfaced on the national scene, hosting a series of professional boxing matches on cable television.

The hotel's occupancy rate, Ruffin said, is projected to be 82 percent this year, a far cry from the sluggish 60 percent during the strike-ridden days under the Elardis.

Part of the stepped-up business can be attributed to the AFL-CIO and the Culinary Union, which have worked hard to steer business Ruffin's way.

It has been their way of saying thank you to the man who helped them make history in the annals of organized labor.

"It's a tough business," Culinary Staff Director D. Taylor said. "But with the work that he says he's committed to doing, there's a future there where none was possible even two years ago during the strike."

Both Ruffin and the Culinary Union have nothing special planned today to celebrate the official end of the much-publicized labor dispute.

Ruffin said he's too busy dealing with a packed house for the Super Bowl. And Taylor said the union has moved on to new and possibly greater challenges.

Contracts at several downtown hotels must be settled, and of course there's the union's new nemesis to face, Sheldon Adelson, who plans to open the Venetian in April without a Culinary Union contract.

But the Frontier strikers are not forgotten.

"We live off of the incredible courage and sacrifice of the strikers," Taylor said. "We get our inspiration from them."