Columnist Jeff German: Culinary, casinos ready for showdown

Friday, March 29, 2002 | 5:13 a.m.

IT'S CONTRACT time, friends.

Collective bargaining talks between the Culinary Union and Las Vegas casinos are expected to get under way within two weeks, and the union on Wednesday is giving us a prelude to the difficult road that lies ahead.

It's staging a pep rally at the Cashman Field Theater to draw attention to the plight of some 10,000 union housekeepers, most of whom are Hispanic women. The short film, "In Their Hands," which documents the tough working conditions of the housekeepers, will debut at the unprecedented event.

Last week the 50,000-member union, always adept at wooing officialdom to its side, mailed letters to elected leaders inviting them to attend the largest gathering ever of Spanish-speaking workers. About 2,000 housekeepers, described as the "invisible workforce," plan to be on hand.

"Most housekeepers are women and immigrants," Culinary Political Director Glen Arnodo wrote in the letter. "Their labor has contributed to both the success of their companies and our community."

Arnodo said improving working conditions for the housekeepers will be a key issue at the upcoming negotiations with some 36 casinos. The union's main goal is to reduce the workload of the housekeepers, which has increased since Sept. 11 with massive layoffs at most resorts.

The contract talks are expected to be the most critical in two decades for the union and the casino industry, which has suffered declining revenues because of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

The major companies participating in the negotiations -- Park Place Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Mandalay Resort Group and Harrah's Entertainment -- all are worried about their bottom lines in the wake of the Sept. 11 losses and are in no mood to give the union charity.

But the union, outraged at the way workers were callously laid off, is determined to protect their well-being in the future.

Besides bettering housekeeping conditions, the union will be negotiating to keep its $300 million health and welfare fund afloat and make sure its members continue to enjoy the best health benefits available in corporate America.

It's a giant task that must be accomplished by June 1 when the current five-year contract expires. Both sides are hoping to avoid a potentially catastrophic strike on the Strip.

Culinary Staff Director D. Taylor, a veteran of the violent 1984 walkout, said the decision to invite elected leaders to Wednesday's pep rally merely is an attempt to educate them about the predicament of the housekeepers.

"This way they can fully understand the reason why workers are fighting for an issue," he said. "It's good to let them hear it first-hand."

That is true.

But Taylor also knows it's important to lock up the support of as many public officials as possible in case negotiations with the casinos break down. The union is going to need a ton of bargaining chips if that happens.

Those chips are out there. The union has helped elect many of the state's leaders over the years.

From time to time, as in the six-year Frontier strike or the mass demonstrations at the Venetian, it has found the need to call in its markers. This is one of those times.

The union understands that the casino industry also wields much influence in Nevada and is likely to twist some arms of its own before the contract talks conclude. Gaming, after all, still is the state's largest contributor to political campaigns and a major tax source.

It can be a formidable opponent, which is why Arnodo may have ended his letter last week with the following words:

"We will have a special sign-in table for elected officials and all those in attendance will be recognized."

They'll be recognized in more ways than one.

The union on Wednesday will be making its list and checking it twice -- because it's contract time.