Rio workers choose union representation

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001 | 11:14 a.m.

After months of legal battles, the Rio Suites hotel-casino became a union property Wednesday, when the Culinary Union and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. announced the Culinary has triumphed in a card count at the property.

Neither side revealed what percentage of Rio employees signed authorization cards for the Culinary, though Culinary chief organizer Kevin Kline called it "a solid majority." The Rio is owned by Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas.

"We're extremely pleased with the card check results, and the fact that the Rio is now a union hotel," Kline said. "We've always had a good relationship with Harrah's on the Las Vegas Strip, and we're looking forward to the negotiations at the Rio."

By contrast, Harrah's spokesman Gary Thompson said the company was "disappointed with the results."

"However, as we have said repeatedly, we will respect and abide by the decision of a majority of affected Rio team members to be represented by the union," Thompson said.

With the card count complete, the Culinary becomes the collective bargaining representative of about 2,400 Rio employees, including bartenders, food employees, cocktail servers, change attendants, custodians, door persons, baggage handlers, wine stewards, housekeepers and suite attendants. The two sides will immediately begin contract negotiations.

Harrah's was forced to honor the results of a card count because of a court order issued by a state judge last week. In the order, Judge James Mahan wrote that "there is a substantial risk that support (for the Culinary) among employees of the Rio may erode as time goes on and a card count is not held." Mahan wrote employees were entitled to a card check, a "simple procedure specified in the collective bargaining agreement" in effect at Harrah's Las Vegas.

Prior to the order, the Rio and Culinary had waged a high-profile, sometimes nasty war for support among Rio workers. In June, the National Labor Relations Board intervened, charging that 44 Rio managers had committed more than 140 labor violations against supporters of the organizing drive. Harrah's denied those charges, and negotiations are apparently under way to settle the charges before an NLRB hearing is held.

"Obviously, (the win at the Rio) allows us to focus in on some other union properties," Kline said.

That includes the Venetian and Aladdin megaresorts on the Strip, he said -- properties where the union has been unsuccessful in its drive for card checks.