Six hurt as workers clash with security at Circus Circus

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

Culinary Union leaders said today that at least six of its members were injured during a melee with security officers last week at a Circus Circus employee cafeteria.

Four of those injured, including Al Williams, a kitchen workers shop steward who said he suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken wrist, were members of the union's Mandalay Resort Group negotiating committee, union officials said.

All six have filed battery complaints with Metro Police, and union officials said they were attempting to determine whether more were hurt in the alteration, which involved as many as 100 people.

Mandalay Resort Group officials said the incident, which occurred about 1 p.m. Friday, was "unfortunate," but the result of an attempt to start a labor demonstration at the dining room in violation of the union's current collective bargaining agreement, which expires at the end of the month.

"We are trying to reach an agreement with the Culinary Union for a new contract," Mandalay General Counsel Mike Sloan said. "Rallies, protests, strike votes and demonstrations do not help the process.

"The incident in the employee dining room at Circus Circus is an example of the type of action that, in addition to being completely unhelpful, serves to create conflict and discord."

But D. Taylor, the union's secretary-treasurer, said the workers had a right to congregate in the cafeteria and had participated in a similar gathering without incident two weeks earlier.

Taylor vowed to use the full power of his 50,000-member local to hold Circus Circus officials responsible for Friday's scuffle.

"We are not going to allow any of our members to be victimized for standing up for their rights," Taylor said. "I thought this behavior was left behind in the 1930s."

Taylor said the injured Circus Circus six have become a rallying cry for the union, as it attempts to iron out a new contract with Mandalay Resort Group and the rest of the casino industry by June 1. Circus Circus is one of five Mandalay Strip casinos participating in the negotiations.

All six employees who say they were injured planned to show up at Circus Circus with union leaders this afternoon for a previously scheduled negotiating session with Mandalay officials.

Williams, 30, who has worked as a pot washer at the resort for eight years, said he was manhandled by security officers during the altercation and then was denied medical attention, cited for trespassing and suspended from his job.

"I didn't do anything wrong to the company but bust my butt," Williams said. "They treated us like animals."

Two others were also suspended.

Williams and others injured in the fight said as many as 100 employees were in the dining room when about 15 security officers rushed in to disperse what had become a vocal spontaneous meeting on the status of the heated contract talks.

A Circus Circus supervisor reportedly videotaped the entire ruckus, and union leaders are demanding to see the tape.

Sloan said Williams was standing on a table and told to get down and stop yelling before security guards intervened. Williams said he was standing on a chair.

"We are investigating the incident and will determine what, if any, further action is necessary," Sloan said.

Williams and others involved in the incident acknowledged that employees were loudly chanting prounion slogans for about 10 minutes before the melee erupted.