Columnist Jeff German: Culinary to mount big push downtown

Friday, June 14, 2002 | 5:26 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

EXACTLY A MONTH ago the Culinary Union and Strip megaresorts were far apart in contract talks when more than 20,000 union members poured into the Thomas & Mack Center to authorize a strike.

At that gathering, the biggest turnout ever for the union, lead negotiator John Wilhelm heightened the fighting spirit of his members with a fiery divide-and-conquer speech.

The following week Park Place Entertainment broke ranks with the major Strip operators and reached a five-year agreement with the union.

That led to similar deals all along the Strip and averted a June 1 walkout.

Union leaders credited the huge show of force at the May 16 strike vote for turning the tide in the contentious negotiations.

On Friday, with a July 1 strike deadline now set for several downtown casinos taking a hard line in the talks, the union is organizing another massive public event it hopes will have the same kind of impact.

It is using every last ounce of energy to persuade the Strip workers who have won financial security for another five years to come to the aid of their sisters and brothers downtown.

There are bold predictions that as many as 15,000 people, mostly from the settled megaresorts, will show up in two shifts for a march on Fremont Street to draw attention to the slow-moving downtown talks.

"Friday's demonstration will show the strong solidarity that exists between workers on the Strip and workers downtown," says Glen Arnodo, the union's political director.

"The downtown owners should realize that they're not going to be allowed to isolate this contract dispute to the workers downtown. We have pledged that those workers are not going to be left alone."

Health care once more is the main point of contention with seven downtown casinos -- Binion's Horseshoe, Four Queens, Fitzgeralds, Union Plaza, Las Vegas Club, El Cortez and the Western -- and the Castaways on Boulder Highway.

The union wants the hotels to accept the economic provisions of the Strip deal that gives workers their largest increase ever in wages and medical benefits.

In a flier urging Strip workers to participate in Friday's rally, the union says: "Twenty Thousand of us voted to strike to protect our healthcare. We can't stop now. We have one union health plan."

The hotels, however, have a different opinion.

They say they can't afford big-time hikes in employer contributions to the union's health and welfare fund, and they're seeking concessions from the union.

"From my perspective I believe that the Culinary Union is very well organized," says Gregory Kamer, who represents the seven downtown casinos. "The fact that they can put 15,000 people downtown on a Friday does not come as a surprise to me.

"But it doesn't change our position. Our problem is finding the funds to support the union's demands."

And so we have a standoff.

"I think we all realize we may be looking at a strike if we don't find middle ground," Kamer says.

No kidding.

Union leaders certainly believe a walkout is possible. They're throwing a pre-strike bash on Monday, primarily for the benefit of the media, as they launch their final push to pressure the downtown hotels into settling up.

The union has erected a large tent on its parking lot, where hundreds of members will set up shop under the watchful eye of television cameras to make picket signs, put together strike survival packets and prepare special packages to accept food donations.

But the real party will be on Friday when thousands of union members pour onto the streets of downtown in a demonstration of solidarity that should remind us of the May 16 strike vote just one month ago.

As with that vote, the success of the massive march will be measured by whether the downtown hotels can continue to stick together under the weight of the union's pressure.