Monday, March 1, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.
A Georgia congressman who has a national reputation as a civil-rights leader says he's ready to be arrested if necessary in the Culinary Union's demonstration today at the Venetian.
Rep. John Lewis, who was jailed more than 40 times during the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, told the Sun over the weekend that he sympathizes with the plight of the Culinary Union seeking to organize Venetian workers.
"I'm not afraid to be arrested," Lewis said. "I don't like the idea of being arrested, and I don't like the idea of going to jail. But if that's the price one must pay to help dramatize the issue and help them organize, then I'm prepared to pay the price."
Venetian officials have vowed to have the union members cited or taken into custody by police if they interfere with the work of about 3,500 construction workers putting the finishing touches on the Strip megaresort for its mid-April opening.
The union is expecting as many as 2,000 people to participate in the demonstration, which will take place about 5:30 p.m. on the sidewalks of the $1.2 billion Venetian.
Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson believes the sidewalks are private, but the union insists they're public.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, backed by its national office in Washington, is siding with the Culinary Union.
Lewis, 59, an Atlanta Democrat who was a close adviser to Martin Luther King, said the dispute over the use of sidewalks is important to the country and reminded him of his days in the civil-rights movement.
"People have a right to stand in front of a public establishment and engage in an orderly, peaceful protest," said Lewis, who helped organize key marches in Washington and the South that led to historic civil-rights legislation in 1965.
Lewis, who said he was last arrested for protesting apartheid outside the South African embassy in Washington in 1989, is no stranger to Culinary Union causes. He walked the picket line with striking workers during the union's epic walkout at the Frontier hotel-casino.
Last March, he joined House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman in welcoming Frontier workers back into the hotel after the six-year strike ended.
"Working people must get a fair deal whether they're from the private sector or the public sector," Lewis said. "People work very hard, and they deserve to be treated with dignity."
Today's protesters plan to congregate at the Frontier, where the Culinary Union's international executive board is meeting, about 5 p.m and march south along the sidewalks of the Strip to the Venetian.
"I think it will go very smoothly," Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Jim Arnold said today. "We've been working closely with the police. They know exactly what we're doing."
Lewis, a member of the Democratic leadership team in the House, said that if the union doesn't prevail at the Venetian, it could have a "domino effect" in other businesses around the country.
Venetian President Bill Weidner has accused the union of driving Venetian management "into a bunker."
"They're trying to force us to do something we don't want to do," Weidner told the Sun late last week.
Adelson believes he doesn't need to negotiate a contract with the Culinary Union because he's giving his employees a superior wage and benefit package.
The dispute with Adelson, according to the union, stems from his refusal to give first crack at jobs at the Venetian to workers who were let go when the Sands hotel-casino was demolished.
Adelson, the union said, also is refusing to provide a "neutral environment" at the Venetian to allow the union to organize his workers.
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