Columnist Jeff German: The unions: Strength in numbers

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

Organized labor is in trouble in America, but you'd never know it walking through the Culinary Union Hall.

On Monday hundreds of union members, as they do every day, literally were bumping into each other seeking the union's services.

It is not surprising that the AFL-CIO, which is on the verge of sweeping reform to boost its falling membership, chose Las Vegas this week for the annual winter meeting of its executive council.

This is the city that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney once called the hottest union city in the country.

Las Vegas is a reminder to Sweeney, who finds his leadership under fire this week, that the key to labor's strength is its ability to grow in numbers.

You don't have to tell local Culinary Union boss D. Taylor about the merits of organizing, which makes up 30-40 percent of his budget.

The Culinary Union has more than doubled its membership over the last 25 years in the thriving business climate on the Strip. Some 50,000 workers, mostly in the casino industry, now have joined its ranks.

And within the next three months, Taylor hopes to push that number to nearly 60,000.

Final details are being worked out for 3,000 local members of UNITE, the laundry and textile workers union, to become members of the Culinary Union as part of a national merger.

Another 4,000 Wynn Las Vegas workers will have an opportunity to sign up with the union after the megaresort opens April 28 and negotiates a collective bargaining agreement.

And still another 1,500 Aladdin employees will come on board when a labor contract is signed there.

Once all of this business is completed, the Culinary Union will turn its attention to its most challenging task -- bringing 14,000 workers in the neighborhood casino market into its fold. This includes employees at Station Casinos properties and Coast Resorts properties now under the control of Boyd Gaming.

Organizing drives also will be stepped up at the Palms and the Venetian.

These are long-term fights, likely to play out for years, because the companies are resisting the union's efforts. The Venetian, for example, has been battling the union for nearly six years.

But Taylor insists the union is in it for the long haul.

He says continued organizing is the only way to ensure the union's survival in the era of the Strip super-merger.

"If you want to take on these gigantic corporations, you've got to get bigger, too," he says. "It's that simple.

This is something the labor movement, as a whole, hasn't understood over the years, Taylor explains.

But that may change this week in Las Vegas, as Sweeney finds himself on the hot seat during the AFL-CIO's executive council meeting at Bally's.

A group led by two of the largest unions, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, is urging Sweeney to set aside more resources nationwide for organizing.

Taylor's boss, John Wilhelm, co-president of the merged national Culinary Union in New York, supports that push.

A quick visit to the local Culinary Union Hall is all the proof anyone needs of the benefits of growing in numbers.