Horseshoe wants more flexibility

Wednesday, June 19, 2002 | 11:29 a.m.

Binion's Horseshoe owner Becky Behnen appealed to Culinary Union leaders Tuesday to be more reasonable in their contract demands for downtown casinos.

Behnen said she would have to close the Horseshoe, founded more than 50 years ago by her legendary father, Benny Binion, if forced to sign the same rich contract as the Strip megaresorts.

"This is insane," Behnen told the Sun. "If I signed the contract they wanted, I might as well board up the doors today. We would be like the family grocery store -- a thing of the past."

The Horseshoe and six other downtown hotels -- Four Queens, Fitzgeralds, Union Plaza, Las Vegas Club, El Cortez and Western -- have been taking a hard line in the contract talks. The Castaways on nearby Boulder Highway has joined them.

But on Tuesday Fitzgeralds broke away from the pack and the tough rhetoric of the downtown group's lawyer, Gregory Kamer, when it notified the union that it wanted to negotiate a separate deal. Talks were immediately set up for next Tuesday.

This came as the union sought the help of Boyd Gaming Chairman William Boyd to broker a deal with the remaining downtown casinos as a July 1 strike deadline looms. Boyd Gaming has been conducting low-keyed contract talks with the union on behalf of three of its properties, the Stardust on the Strip and the Fremont and Main Street Station downtown.

"We implored Mr. Boyd and that company to try and help us reach a global settlement downtown," Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said late Tuesday. "We want him to take leadership in getting the principals together in order to try and solve this."

The late-breaking developments downtown are being viewed as a positive sign in the slow-moving negotiations, similar to what happened during contract talks with the major Strip operators a month ago.

A week before an earlier June 1 deadline, Park Place Entertainment distanced itself from the hard-liners on the Strip and reached a five-year deal with the union. That led to similar agreements all along the Strip that gave the union its largest increase ever in wages and benefits.

The Horseshoe and the other downtown hotels represented by Kamer have been fighting hard for a less rich contract with the union, saying they aren't in the same financial position as the Strip megaresorts.

But Taylor this week said the cost-saving counteroffer that the downtown casinos submitted was designed to provoke a strike on July 1.

"It's a horrendous proposal that no one in their right mind would accept," Taylor said.

The offer suggests switching union employees to company health plans, giving the hotels freedom to subcontract out union jobs, eliminating the guaranteed 40-hour work week, and allowing the casinos to hire an unlimited number of part-time workers.

Taylor called upon Behnen and other downtown hotel owners to take a more active role in the negotiations.

And Behnen, who took over the family-run Horseshoe in 1998, said she welcomed the opportunity.

But she said even if she eliminated hundreds of union jobs from her payroll, she still couldn't afford the huge increases in wages and benefits, nearly $3.24 an hour for each employee over five years, that the union wants.

"We're not making the kind of money that the Strip properties are making," she said. "Doesn't the union understand this?"

If the Horseshoe signed such a contract and was able to cut the number of union jobs from 828 to 627, it would still cost the casino an additional $20 million it doesn't have, Behnen said.

"They want to squeeze water out of a peach," she said. "My father had a saying: 'Pick a peach, but don't chop down the tree.' That's why he would never extend his customers too much credit."

Behnen said her accountants and human resource executives are working around the clock on ways to accommodate the union.

"Every day we crunch numbers trying to figure out a way to do this," she said.

The union, she said, needs to give her more flexibility.

On the slow graveyard shift at her coffee shop, for example, she has to employ five union cooks to do the job of one because of the current contract, Behnen said.

"If we could stop some of the ridiculous things like that," she said, "we could save them money that we could put toward their health and welfare."

Behnen said a July 1 strike would be a "no-win situation" for both sides, but she's prepared to deal with it.

She said she has a special relationship with her employees, many of whom are among the longest tenured in the casino industry, and would hate to have to hire replacement workers.

"If they go out on strike, they're going to lose their homes," she said. "It just breaks my heart that negative things will happen to people I care about."

Taylor, however, said Behnen hasn't demonstrated to him that she's serious about wanting to avoid a strike.

"The only response we've gotten from her are a slew of proposals that are deal breakers," he said. "You have to match what she said to what her actions have been so far with that proposal by her lawyer. I put a lot more weight on the proposal rather than her words."

The union leader said he hoped the decision by Fitzgeralds to negotiate its own contract would encourage other downtown hotels to deal directly with the union and come back with counteroffers that made more sense.

"I think this is good that they're no longer going to be part of that proposal the Kamer group sent," Taylor said. "It's in the interest of lawyers to perpetuate a problem because obviously, they're employed longer."

Mike Kelly, chief operating officer for Majestic Investor Holdings, which owns Fitzgeralds, said he asked to take over the negotiations from Kamer, who still is doing legal work for the company, because he didn't agree with some of the attorney's strong rhetoric.

"There were some things the other downtown hotels were proposing that we weren't comfortable with," Kelly said. "We want to make the deal work for both sides."

Kelly said Fitzgeralds, for example, does not want to force union employees to switch to the company's health insurance plan. It also doesn't want to eliminate the 40-hour guaranteed work week.

Kamer said that Fitzgeralds, because of its gaming interests outside Nevada, was the most likely of his seven downtown clients to be in a position to meet the union's contract demands and that he was confident the property would settle with the union.

But he added: "Bringing them to the table isn't going to put money in the pockets of these other properties to reach an agreement."

Kamer also said he viewed the union's invitation to Boyd to participate in the talks with his other clients as a positive development.

Boyd could not be reached for comment this morning.

Both sides are scheduled to return to the bargaining table on Thursday.

The union stepped up public pressure on the downtown hotels Tuesday with a Fremont Street rally attended by some 1,200 members of the Communications Workers of America, who are holding their convention in Las Vegas.

The communications workers -- carrying "No Contract/No Peace" picket signs and chanting a variety of pro-labor slogans -- paraded in front of the downtown casinos for about an hour.

Taylor, meanwhile, said he hopes to reach tentative agreements with the last of the Strip resorts, the Stardust, Barbary Coast and Sahara, by early next week.

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