Labor convention becomes video affair

Erin Neff

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

Normally when big labor comes to Las Vegas, national politicians arrive on its coattails and help raise money for local candidates.

But the events of Sept. 11 have changed both the speakers' list and the cocktail receptions at the AFL-CIO convention this week at the Paris.

Politicians who typically shelve Washington duties to court organized labor instead this year stayed behind to finish Congressional work.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who spoke here in July at the Teamsters convention, appeared at Wednesday's AFL-CIO conference only by satellite. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., all replaced scheduled live appearances with video speeches.

Without the politicians, labor leaders bore the brunt of fund-raising activities this week and, as a result, mostly passed the hat for laid-off workers.

Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, a Democrat running for Congress, received huge support this week, but no money at a "meet and greet" reception hosted by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union President John Wilhelm.

No one passed a bucket for Herrera, who hopes the contacts he made will open the door to donations down the road, but anyone tossing money in a silver pail at a display nearby was lauded and adorned with a sticker reading, "Give a little, give a lot, give a damn."

The AFL-CIO's Union Community Fund raised $75,000 on Monday alone for Las Vegas service workers who have been laid off since the terrorist attacks. Fund officials estimated they would raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for local workers during the convention.

An entire brochure -- detailing the cancellation or postponement of 250 conventions in Las Vegas -- urged union officials to pass the hat.

Anthony Hill, a community organizer for the Service Employees International Union chapter in Jacksonville, Fla., wore his sticker as many others did -- right on their name badges.

"It's important that we lend a hand," said Hill, a former Florida Assemblyman who plans to run for the his state Senate next year. "Florida is a right to work state and a lot of times we ask workers to stand up for something and they get fired.

"It's only right to help out."

Hill said he understands the plight of laid off Las Vegans because of the sagging tourism economy of his home state.

"When you don't come to Disney or Busch Gardens or the beaches of Miami, we are hurting," Hill added.

Still, there was talk of politics, as union leaders continued pushing union members for public office. The AFL-CIO said its 2,000 in 2000 campaign surpassed the mark of 2,000 members elected to office in the nation.

This year, in an event closed to the press Wednesday night, the union held a fund-raiser for three union members running for Congress.

But this week the focus was more on laid-off workers than politicians, a trend expected to continue.

"This is a long-overdue effort by the trade union movement to have union members direct their charity within their communities," said Vincent Sombretto, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.