Friday, May 10, 2002 | 4:21 a.m.
THE MAY 3 scuffle between Circus Circus security officers and Culinary Union members has stirred up bad memories for Richard McCracken, the union's longtime attorney.
McCracken can't help but recall a similar case of violence at the Las Vegas Hilton in the weeks leading up to the bitter Culinary Union strike of 1984, the last time the union walked out on the Strip.
"There's an eerie similarity to these two events," McCracken says. "As soon as I heard about the Circus Circus incident, I flashed back to that day in 1984."
McCracken was on hand that spring day, just a couple of weeks before the union went on strike, when about 200 union leaders and members marched to the Hilton to deliver a petition to management on the stalled negotiations.
Hilton security officers had set up barriers on the sidewalk in front of the main entrance to block the marchers from getting inside the casino. Once the union members climbed over the barriers, security officers converged on the crowd, creating an instant melee. Many marchers were injured.
A couple of weeks later the union staged a walkout that lasted 75 days and paralyzed the casino industry.
The Hilton incident, it turned out, set the tone for the bitter labor dispute, which brought much unwanted national attention to Las Vegas.
"It gave the impression of an industry that was prepared to use violence to suppress their employees," McCracken says. "This (Circus Circus) is very similar to that."
At Circus Circus, union members, including some on the current negotiating committee, were injured when security officers tried to break up what the company called an unlawful demonstration of about 100 people in the employee's cafeteria.
Like at the Hilton, bodies were said to be flying everywhere. McCracken now is spearheading the union's investigation into the incident.
But is the Circus Circus altercation, which the company says it regrets, a foreshadowing of another strike in Las Vegas?
Probably not. There's too much at stake now in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
It's true that both sides have stepped up the rhetoric in the current talks, as they try to come together on the key issues. The union even has scheduled a strike authorization vote on Thursday, which the national media surely will cover.
But despite the growing tension, there's still plenty of time to reach an agreement by the June 1 strike deadline.
Word even surfaced late in the week that two companies, Park Place Entertainment and Harrah's, were anxious to make a deal with the union. That could be just what the union needs to get the rest of the casino industry to fall in line.
And let's not forget that the relationship between the union and the industry has changed considerably since 1984. Both sides have become partners during a period of unprecedented economic growth in Las Vegas. Neither side really wants this prosperous alliance to end.
One prominent player missing from this year's negotiations is former Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn.
In each of the last three negotiations dating back to 1989, Wynn was the first to sign a collective bargaining agreement with the union. Once Wynn inked his deal, the rest of the industry followed suit.
Wynn isn't participating this time because he's developing his latest megaresort, Le Reve, on the site of the old Desert Inn.
But Wynn still is knowledgeable about these kinds of negotiations, and so his opinion carries some weight.
Wynn says there's only a 10 percent chance the union will walk out on June 1.
"You don't have a strike when you've got parity in power," he says. "Neither one can get the upper hand here. And that's a good thing."
Even Richard McCracken probably is hoping that it's good enough to erase the bad memories of 1984.
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