Culinary still ready for possible strike

Wednesday, May 29, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

With nearly 75 percent of its members covered under tentative agreements, the Culinary Union is narrowing the focus of its strike preparations.

But it is continuing to mobilize all of its resources toward any walkout that might occur Saturday at hotels that haven't reached agreements.

"From the very beginning, we said that this is not done until every last worker has a contract, and that is something we're sticking to," said Glen Arnodo, the union's political director. "As we've learned over the years, even one property on strike is a labor-intensive situation.

"To think of having 25 percent of the membership on strike is still a massive undertaking."

Maggie Carlton, a Democratic state senator involved in the strike preparations, said the union now is focusing on a possible walkout at 18 hotels that employ about 9,100 union members. Those hotels, the majority of which are downtown, have yet to reach tentative agreements with the union.

The union originally prepared for a walkout of about 45,000 workers, but it has since come to terms with the major Strip operators -- Park Place Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment, Mandalay Resort Group and MGM MIRAGE -- which employ the vast majority of union members.

Carlton said union officials are working to make life easier for those members who still might have to strike.

Mortgage companies, other creditors and utilities such as Nevada Power and Southwest Gas Corp., are being asked to make special arrangements for bill payments, and a food bank with as much as 100 tons of canned and packaged goods is being set up.

D. Taylor, the union's newly elected secretary-treasurer, recently sent letters to local banks and lenders urging them to accommodate union members walking the picket line.

"We ask that you support a stronger and healthier Las Vegas metropolitan area by deferring payments of loans and waiving all fees for striking members of Culinary Union Local 226," Taylor wrote. "It is our hope that you will strongly consider this request and help keep the American Dream alive in our community."

Strikers would get paid from a special union fund, union organizer Joe Marie Agriesti said, but that amount has yet to be determined.