Columnist Jeff German: Culinary steps up the heat in talks

Friday, May 17, 2002 | 4:04 a.m.

LAST WEEK'S JUNE 1 strike authorization vote clearly gave the Culinary Union momentum heading into the final two weeks of heated negotiations with the casino industry.

It put the 50,000-member union in a fighting mood.

But then you would have known that had you been inside the Thomas & Mack Center, when union leaders opened their massive voting sessions with a tape of ring announcer Michael Buffer's famous words, "Let's get ready to rumble."

John Wilhelm, the union's normally soft-spoken international president and chief negotiator, fired up the crowd with probably the most significant emotionally charged speeches of his life.

Wilhelm was not wearing his negotiator's hat last week, when he urged 20,000 roaring union members in two separate sessions to stand up to the casinos and fight for their dignity and financial security.

"You know they're trying to divide us and defeat us," he said in a fever-pitched voice. "We're going to turn that around. We're going to stick together and divide them. And by sticking together, we will defeat them."

Prior to the vote, management took a more subtle approach to the act of friendly persuasion in this hard-fought conflict.

At the MGM MIRAGE, one of the hard-liners in the negotiations, executives sent memos to employees, saying they were hopeful they could avoid a strike that surely would hurt the livelihoods of both the company and the employees.

"We want to try to answer your concerns and questions and will be talking to you regularly about this matter," the letter says.

"We will be providing you with information in the coming weeks regarding the status of negotiations and your rights and options."

For Wilhelm, however, the only option for union members is to remain united and ride the wave of momentum that indeed seems to be dividing the employers.

Wilhelm left little doubt during his 25-minute speech what the union hopes to accomplish this week. It's looking to reach an agreement with two of the "Big Four" Strip operators, Park Place Entertainment and Harrah's Entertainment.

Though still apart on the key issues of preserving free health insurance and improving working conditions for housekeepers, both companies, which have taken a low-key approach to the negotiations, have given Wilhelm reason to believe a deal can be reached.

Both companies, for example, are agreeable to the union's demand for an increase of 65 cents an hour for each employee in health benefits the first year of a new contract. That, in the union's estimation, would keep its $300 million health and welfare fund afloat this year.

The other two members of the Big Four, MGM MIRAGE and Mandalay Resort Group, are offering a 50 cent increase.

As a result, Wilhelm hasn't even set a date to resume negotiations with the those two operators.

He knows that his best shot at averting a strike is signing a new contract with either Park Place or Harrah's, or both, and then pressuring MGM MIRAGE and Mandalay Resort Group, who must answer to stockholders, to take the same deal.

And MGM MIRAGE and Mandalay know it, too. That's why they tried to buy more time last week by offering to extend the talks for a month beyond the June 1 strike deadline.

Wilhelm, however, didn't take the bait, which has left MGM MIRAGE and Mandalay with little choice but to helplessly watch, as Wilhelm tries to work out an agreement this week with Park Place and Harrah's.

If MGM Mirage and Mandalay decide not to accept any deal worked out with those companies, they risk being the target of a post-Sept. 11 union walkout, while their chief competitors conduct business as usual in labor peace.

Call it a dose of hardball for the hard-liners -- and momentum for the Culinary Union, as that nasty strike deadline draws nearer.