Columnist Jeff German: Superunion may not fear casinos’ kryptonite

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 5:50 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

WEEKEND EDITION

Feb. 28 - 29, 2004

In the age of giant corporate mergers, it should come as no surprise that two of the country's most dynamic unions would want to forge an alliance to keep pace with big business.

Such was the case last week with the Culinary Union and UNITE, the clothing, textiles and laundry union, which together soon will have a combined 440,000 members across the country -- more than 50,000 of them in Las Vegas.

"We felt we had to do this," says D. Taylor, the Culinary Union's local secretary-treasurer. "This gives us a lot more power and a lot more strength."

The merger brings together the city's largest and most aggressive labor organization, the Culinary, and a union that has come out of nowhere. UNITE's membership in Las Vegas alone has skyrocketed from 80 in 1999 to 4,000 today.

For the Culinary Union the merger means access to the vast financial resources of the fast-growing UNITE, which owns the $3.6 billion Amalgamated Bank in New York. UNITE gains an inroad to organizing opportunities within gaming.

"Theoretically, this is a match made in heaven from organized labor's point of view," says Mandalay Resort Group executive Mike Sloan, who has been on the opposite side of the table from the union in contract talks. "Each of them contributes to what the other one needs. One has a dowry and the other great upside potential."

But how will the Culinary Union take advantage of the benefits of this marriage?

Clearly the additional economic resources will bolster its difficult campaign to organize some 10,000 workers at 11 neighborhood properties owned by Station Casinos, as well as another 5,000 employees at the Aladdin, Venetian and Palms. Those companies are putting up an immense fight, so having access to more money will allow the union to be more aggressive, and yet patient, in a bitter campaign likely to last years.

What is more intriguing, however, is the impact the new superunion will have on the existing cordial relationship between the Culinary Union and its casino companies under contract on the Strip.

Most megaresorts either have their own nonunion laundries or contracts with the very nonunion facilities UNITE is looking to organize. Traditionally, the Culinary Union hasn't bothered to go after these hotel workers but, with the merger, it will find itself under more pressure to do so, which could create animosity in board rooms along the Strip.

And there is potential for more serious friction. There are tens of thousands of dealers, the heart of the workforce, on the Strip whom the Culinary Union, out of deference to management, has never tried to organize.

If the union feels pressure to bring other groups, such as the laundry workers, into its fold, why shouldn't it feel pressure to sign up the dealers, too?

Dealers are starting to become organized in other parts of the country, but not by the Culinary Union, their logical collective bargaining agent. In Detroit, for example, the United Auto Workers stepped in to fill the void.

If the Culinary Union wants to continue to play a leading role in the labor movement, it can't allow this trend to continue, especially on its most lucrative turf in Las Vegas.

Imagine the sparks that would be flying on the Strip if the new and improved Culinary Union sought to organize dealers.

Still more animosity could occur if the union seeks to boost its membership in gaming jurisdictions outside Nevada where the big Las Vegas casino companies have interests.

"I don't know who's going to be more nervous about this merger -- the casinos that already have contracts or those that don't," one casino bigwig ponders.

The answer is both.