Columnist Jeff German: Ex-mayor caught in Culinary crunch

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 5:09 a.m.

THROUGHOUT her eight years as mayor of Las Vegas in the 1990s, Jan Laverty Jones, a Democrat, was a staunch union supporter.

When the Culinary Union staged a massive street demonstration opening night at the nonunion MGM Grand Hotel in 1993, Jones honored the picket line and stayed away from the VIP festivities.

"It's a major investment in the community, but if the picket line is up, I won't cross it," she told reporters in the days leading up to the demonstration. "I've never crossed a picket line."

The Culinary Union staged a similar protest in May 1999, when the Venetian opened its doors without a union contract, and again the mayor was among the elected officials who kept their distance.

Today, Jones still has a fondness for organized labor. But, as senior vice president of government relations for Harrah's Entertainment, which is facing a bitter Culinary strike in Atlantic City, she finds herself in the uncomfortable position of being at odds with her union friends.

On some days she's even the target of a union picket line.

About 1,000 members of Culinary Local 226 held a demonstration Thursday outside Harrah's corporate offices in Las Vegas in support of their striking Atlantic City colleagues. Jones watched the protest from her fourth-floor office and saw 95 union members, including her good friend, Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor, removed from the parking lot and cited by police in a pre-planned act of civil disobedience.

"The strike is creating very hard feelings," Jones said. "All I can do is try to be a buffer."

That's a task that has led to grumblings from both her bosses and her union buddies. Her bosses say the union can't be trusted, and the union says her bosses can't be trusted.

Both sides returned to the bargaining table in Atlantic City Friday, and Jones was hopeful that an agreement was still within reach. But little progress was made during a 45-minute discussion and no further talks were scheduled.

"I understand the importance of the partnership between organized labor and the gaming industry," Jones said. "I've worked hard the past five years to build that partnership."

In the meantime Jones knows where her bread is buttered, which is why she felt the need last week to express her disappointment with her friends at the Culinary Union.

She said the union crossed the line when it publicly accused Harrah's Chief Executive Gary Loveman of being a fat cat who doesn't care about his workers.

"They didn't have to make this personal," Jones said. "Going after Gary was an error in judgment."

But Taylor insisted the union hasn't made Loveman the focus of its attacks and has no interest in doing so.

"We would never do that," he said. "We view this as a fight with a corporation, not one person."

Both sides basically aren't fighting in Atlantic City over money. They're fighting for the best leverage when contract talks begin at Las Vegas casinos in 2007.

By that time Harrah's likely will have merged with Caesars Entertainment, making it the world's biggest casino company. Union leaders want three-year contracts in Atlantic City that will expire at the same time as the agreements in Las Vegas, which would give the union additional clout heading into the Las Vegas talks.

But Harrah's and Caesars officials aren't willing to settle for anything less than a five-year deal in Atlantic City. The two sides aren't far apart on wage increases and health benefits.

"I just can't believe that, when you have a really rich package for the employees, they can't come up with something that puts employees back to work," Jones said. "Isn't it, in the end, about the employees?"

Taylor agrees that the employees come first.

"The employees have been on strike for two weeks," he said. "They know why they're striking."