Culinary workers tap Congress

Thursday, May 18, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

As Wynn Las Vegas housekeeper Maritza Martinez cradled a handset on her shoulder Wednesday and speed-dialed Congress, she probably made history.

Martinez and thousands of her fellow Culinary Union workers used hotel-sponsored phone banks up and down the Strip to lobby members of Nevada's congressional delegation about immigration reform.

Martinez smiled as she anticipated her chance to talk to a member of Congress. A staff member answered the phone and switched her to a colleague who speaks Spanish.

Her message, and that of many co-workers: Immigrants are vital to Nevada's economy and those who are here illegally deserve a path to citizenship.

The calls were almost certainly unprecedented. Historians and industry executives alike could not remember another time when phone banks were placed in casinos for workers to lobby Congress on national legislation.

"I do not know anything like this happening on the Strip before," said Michael Green, professor of regional studies at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

David Schwartz, director of the Gaming Research Center at UNLV, said the same thing.

The effort, set up with the help of the 60,000-member Culinary Union, is expected to continue today at 22 properties on the Strip.

The idea was an extension of the petition the union delivered to Congress last week in support of what's being called comprehensive immigration reform, or legislation that would tighten borders, give an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and offer future immigrants a way to join the workforce.

But for Arte Nathan, chief human resources officer at the Wynn, the notable thing was the process itself as he stood across a hallway from the phone bank at noon Wednesday.

"It's interesting how engaged they are in the political process as opposed to being engaged in a protest of undefined proportions," he said, referring to nationwide demonstrations this spring that included a May 1 march down the Strip by tens of thousands of people. "They're participating in politics as it's supposed to be."

Dozens filed into "le staff cafe" behind him, some of them stopping to inquire about the phones and computers.

Nathan said 60 percent of his company's 9,200 employees are minorities and 32 percent are Hispanic. And while the casino's workers have legal authorization to live and work in the U.S., many of their family members and friends might not, he said.

Eduardo Martinez, a 17-year worker at casinos on the Strip, said he had directed his calls to Rep. Jon Porter and Sen. John Ensign, both Republicans, "because of what they've said they're not so much in support of us as Hispanics."

Porter has recently said he would support a Senate bill offering a way for legalizing undocumented immigrants and a worker program - despite his December vote in favor of the House bill that would make illegal immigration a felony and that sparked nationwide protests.

Ensign has said attention must be given to strengthening borders before anything else.

Martinez, a kitchen worker, said he hadn't referred to the "phone script" in English and Spanish lying on the table behind him, and that his call instead had "come from the heart."

Martinez, as well as the script, emphasized legalization of illegal immigrants and opposed any law that "forces some immigrants to live in the shadows."

Neither mentioned a program for future immigrants.

"Right now, the most important thing is those who are already here," Martinez said.

However, to the side of the table, a sign labeled "Reform," with a message followed by Steve Wynn's signature, detailed support for a package that "provides a plan for the future flow of workers."

Still, Martinez said, "As for those who come in the future that's too difficult to deal with."