Union stages rally over organization at Aladdin

Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 | 10:47 a.m.

Union demonstrators issued the prospective new owners of the Aladdin hotel-casino a reminder Wednesday: They still want a union contract.

And the prospective new owners, fronted by Planet Hollywood co-founder Robert Earl, had a reply: We don't own the place yet.

Representatives of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 organized a one-hour rally at the Strip resort, days before Earl and his partners, Bay Harbour Management LC, New York, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., White Plains, N.Y., are scheduled to make their first appearance before state gaming regulators.

State Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Wednesday that the partners that are buying the Aladdin out of bankruptcy are gearing to appear before the board at its Aug. 11 meeting and before the Nevada Gaming Commission on Aug. 26. Both meetings are scheduled in Carson City.

Earl, vacationing in Europe, said through a spokeswoman that he and his partners are hoping to be licensed at the regulators' August meetings and that the transition from the Aladdin to the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino would begin in early September.

But in the meantime, Earl said he had no comment on the union's efforts.

"We have no comment at this time," Earl said Wednesday through the spokeswoman. "However, we hope to be approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission to become the new owners of the Aladdin resort in Las Vegas as early as Sept. 1. We welcome the opportunity to meet our employees as soon as we assume ownership."

The union, meanwhile, has continued to keep the pressure on the owners, present and future, of the 2,567-room resort.

Culinary officials said they received the support of the California School Employees Association, which was meeting for its annual convention in Las Vegas this week, at Wednesday's rally.

Last year, a similar midsummer rally included members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees who were boosted by an appearance by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Union officials have staged several rallies of various sizes since Earl's group was the winning bidder in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court sale of the property in June 2003. The $635 million sale is conditioned on the successful licensing of Earl's group and regulators have been conducting their investigation ever since. Regulators and investigators do not comment on applications in progress.

The labor front, meanwhile, has stayed active.

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge in May issued several rulings regarding the company's treatment of employees engaged in union activity. But he did not rule on whether workers at the casino must organize through the union-preferred "card check" procedure or the company-preferred NLRB-run election, a major dispute between the union and the casino.

Appeals to the judge's decision have been filed by both sides.

The two sides are at odds over whether a majority of employees has requested a vote on union representation.

A spokeswoman for the union said most resorts have recognized the Culinary through the card-check process. With the transition of the Aladdin ownership to Earl's group on the horizon, the union is pinning its hopes on convincing the new ownership that a card check is the way to go.

"What we're doing today is making the message crystal clear that a large majority of workers have indicated they want to join the union," said Maya Holmes, research director of the Culinary. "The workers have indicated that on a public petition that we circulated at the end of March."

Holmes said the union collected 1,200 signatures of the approximately 1,500 eligible workers in the employee group that includes cocktail servers, bartenders, food servers, cooks, bathroom attendants, stewards and porters.

In a separate matter, Aladdin Gaming LLC reported June earnings of $2.3 million in a report filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas. That compares with a loss of $4.9 million for the same month a year earlier.

The resort's holding company reported revenue of $21.1 million, expenses of $17.2 million and bankruptcy expenses of $1.5 million for the month. In June 2003, the company reported revenue of $19.4 million, expenses of $21.7 million and bankruptcy expenses of $2.6 million for the month.