Excitement building for workers, officials

Alana Roberts

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

Optimism and excitement permeated a catered luncheon attended by Binion' s Horseshoe employees, Mayor Oscar Goodman and other community leaders at the former Race Rock Restaurant at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas on Thursday.

"I love Las Vegas. I love Las Vegans, and I love you because you are the backbone of what we are," Goodman told the workers during the luncheon.

More than 800 employees attended an orientation session Thursday at Binion's, in anticipation of an April 1 reopening of the casino.

Of those workers, 90 percent worked previously at the property.

Gary Thompson, a Harrah's spokesman, said the Horseshoe is "very close" to being fully staffed, but that officials are still hiring workers.

The luncheon, which was prepared and served by students of the Culinary Training Academy, was held between orientation and training sessions Thursday for the workers.

"What a blessing it is, especially in these hard economic times, that you guys are able to go back to work," Ward 5 Councilman Lawrence Weekly added.

Workers expressed the same optimism in the way things will be run under Harrah's.

Harrah's will manage the casino for new Horseshoe owner MTR Gaming Group.

"You can see the difference. How can you not?" Harley Bass, a slot technician at the hotel-casino, said. Bass has worked at the casino for 27 years. He said after he lost his job he put in applications at a few other places, but said in the end he wanted to continue working at the Horseshoe.

"I spent 27 years of my life in this building. You go somewhere else after 27 years, and it's different. Some things will be different (at the Horseshoe) but it's going to be good. I see a lot of changes," Bass said.

Harrah's officials have promised to improve customer service. They say one way of doing that is by raising morale, offering both union and non-union workers health benefits, Dawn Petrick, a Harrah's spokeswoman, said.

"We're customer service-oriented. They (employees) treat our customers well and they get treated well back," Petrick said.

Bass said the company's appreciation of the workers is apparent.

"They're doing a lot of nice things for the employees. It seems to be a little more organized," he said.

Nevada Partners and the Culinary Training Academy, through Nevada JobConnect, have had major roles in helping the workers by providing job training, job placement and emergency financial assistance through federal funding.

The Culinary Training Academy is a joint management-labor training trust, while Nevada Partners is a nonprofit organization working in collaboration with the Culinary Training Academy to provide job training and job placement assistance to the community.

"We're really pleased to be doing this kind of work," Pam Egan, communications director at Nevada Partners, said.

"It's really great to be able to connect skilled workers with employers. We're the best at what we do and we're proud to be part of this process," she said.

Approximately $700,000 in national emergency grant funds have been channeled to dislocated Binion's workers, Ardell Galbreth, deputy board manager of the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, said.

The Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, made up of local leaders in business, government, labor and education, helps oversee the Nevada JobConnect System and funnels federal labor dollars to where they're needed most.

Steven Horsford, chief executive of Nevada Partners and the Culinary Training Academy, said the Culinary Training Academy has had a role in training the workers. He said the orientation and training session was a way to get workers up to speed with the way Harrah's does things.

"Harrah's Entertainment is a national gaming corporation with properties throughout the country. They really know how to create an excellent customer experience. This is going to be an unparalleled property downtown," Horsford said.

D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union Local 226, agreed.

"We have a long-standing relationship with Harrah's. We have a contract with them at Harrah's and at The Rio. We're very familiar with them and they're familiar with us. Harrah's obviously is a very successful company. We expect them to have that sort of success down at (the Horseshoe)," Taylor said. Jose Gomez, who has worked at the Horseshoe for 21 years as a bartender, said the future for Horseshoe workers looks bright.

"Harrah's has a lot of good things going for it. We're really excited to have new and good things coming toward us," Gomez said.