Union agitating over casino’s closure

David Strow

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001 | 9:50 a.m.

The Culinary Union, incensed over Park Place Entertainment Corp.'s handling of the closure of the Flamingo Reno hotel-casino, is vowing to make the closure an issue in Las Vegas and around the country.

The Flamingo Reno, one of Park Place's two Reno properties, was closed Tuesday in anticipation of its sale to Las Vegas-based Capital One. Capital One plans to redevelop the property.

With the closure, about 1,000 employees -- 450 of them represented by the Culinary Union -- lost their jobs. Park Place will pay the employees through Dec. 4 -- as required by federal law -- and continue benefits through Dec. 31.

But D. Taylor, staff director of the Culinary Union, doesn't believe that's good enough. Severance packages and extended health benefits are called for, Taylor said, because workers will find it extremely difficult to find work in Reno casinos through the winter.

"They're only doing what they're legally required to do, and we think that's unconscionable," Taylor said. "Considering the size and scope of this company, it's not a company that can't afford it. We view this as an affront to those long-term workers up there."

But Park Place doesn't see it that way. Paul Ades, counsel for Park Place, said the company is compensating employees for lost tips through Dec. 5 at double the rate required by law. In calculating hours for part-time workers, Ades said Park Place is going back to the beginning of the year, rather than using the lowered work hours seen in recent weeks. Both will result in bigger paychecks through Dec. 4 than are required under federal law, Ades said.

"I just don't think a fair-minded person who's looking at the whole thing can say we're not doing anything," Ades said. "The idea we're just kicking people out and not using our resources is just not accurate."

In an effort to pressure Park Place into granting benefits beyond Dec. 4, Taylor said the union is "exploring every single legal avenue we have into what we can do internally and externally nationwide in order to have this issue brought to light."

Las Vegas-based Park Place owns 18 casinos in Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana and Indiana. Its five Las Vegas casinos are Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas, Bally's Las Vegas, the Flamingo Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Hilton.

"There is no question this will extend into Las Vegas, into Park Place's properties," Taylor said.

One thing the Culinary cannot do is picket Park Place's properties, as that is forbidden by the union's contract with the gaming giant. What the union will do as an alternative is not known yet.

"They are free to exercise their First Amendment rights," Ades said. "We'll respond as appropriate, if necessary. I don't want to speculate on what they might be planning."

Once-warm relations between the Culinary and Las Vegas' largest casino operators appear to have been cooling in recent weeks, following at least 13,000 layoffs in Las Vegas in September.

Though about 4,000 workers have been brought back on a part-time, temporary basis, Taylor was critical of the city's casinos, saying at last week's World Gaming Congress & Expo that re-hiring wasn't happening quickly enough.

As for whether the Flamingo Reno incident would damage relations with Park Place, "that question really falls on Park Place, not us," Taylor said. "They're the ones not offering severance and benefits in the wintertime."

"We historically have had a very good, interdependent relationship with the Culinary," Ades said. "We have every intention of keeping it that way."

The closure of the Flamingo Reno is a strategic blow to the Culinary in Northern Nevada. While the Culinary is nearly ubiquitous in Las Vegas Strip casinos, it has just three Reno properties organized -- Circus Circus, the Reno Hilton and the Flamingo Reno. Roughly 2,300 workers are covered by those contracts.

Now, just three months after ratifying its first contract for Park Place's two Reno properties, the Culinary has found its tenuous Reno foothold reduced by one.

"We're not well organized there," Taylor said. "Our first priority now is to make sure the Flamingo workers get severance and health benefits this winter. If we can achieve that goal, we'll continue to look at organizing there.

"We're talking with workers from the various properties there about organizing. All the fights there are long and difficult."