Tuesday, July 31, 2007


Jul. 28, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
Culinary union workers at hotels that have not settled new collective bargaining agreements will vote Sept. 12 to give their negotiating committees the authorization to call a strike, representatives of the labor organization said Friday.

The vote doesn't mean there could be a walkout by members of Culinary Workers Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 at Strip and downtown hotels that have not reached new contracts six weeks from now. All the vote does is give the negotiating committees the ability to call a strike, which union members believe is another bargaining chip in their discussions with management.

'This is a tool that we need to have in our contract talks and, hopefully, we'll never have to use it,' said Vikki Gaskill, a cocktail server at The Mirage who is a member of the union's MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM) negotiating committee.

She said there was a growing sense of frustration among union members about the lack of new contract agreements citywide. Gaskill's negotiating committee has held 32 combined meetings with MGM Mirage, both as a full committee and in separate subcommittees. She and her fellow workers take time off without pay to participate in the negotiating sessions.

'We want a new contract, and this vote is about having all the tools we need in negotiations,' said Gaskill, who has worked at The Mirage since 1989. 'Nobody wants to strike, but we know this a tool that might help us.'

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the company was not upset that its workers might vote to authorize a walkout.

'Strike votes happen all the time,' Feldman said. 'It's part of the process and we understand that. We are confident that we can get an agreement with the union if we can meet to discuss it.'

Contracts covering some 50,000 Strip and downtown hotel, casino and restaurant employees represented by the Culinary and its Bartenders affiliate expired on May 31. Extensions were granted as union leaders and hotel operators continued negotiations, which began in March.

The only settlement reached so far has been between the Culinary and Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE:HET) , which struck a new five-year agreement on June 16. A day later, it was ratified. The contract gave some 15,000 workers at six Harrah's-operated casinos average annual raises of 3.7 percent over the life of the package.

Separately, the union has a 10-year contract with Wynn Las Vegas that was signed in April 2005.

The Culinary and MGM Mirage are at odds over several contract language and wage increase issues. Their agreement covers some 21,000 employees at 10 Strip resorts, the largest single bargaining group.

Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said the membership and negotiating committees asked for the vote. He said the union has put aside talks with MGM Mirage for the time being in favor of contract discussions with smaller gaming companies and single-casino operators.

The union has held talks recently with owners of the Riviera and the Tropicana, and a second set of talks are scheduled for the coming weeks. The union said it will meet next week with owners of the Stratosphere, the Las Vegas Hilton and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe, which is located in the Flamingo but has a contract separate from the Harrah's deal.

Taylor said the union is also planning meetings with downtown casinos, Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE:BYD) and the Sahara. He said any properties that reach new contract agreements would not participate in the strike authorization vote.

'Some of the smaller companies wanted to wait until we settled with the bigger companies,' Taylor said. 'But our workers are growing anxious and they want to participate in their own negotiating sessions.'

Judy Bagley, a cashier at Fitzgeralds for 27 years, said in June the downtown casino workers had been content waiting for Strip employees to reach new agreements. Now, however, there is a growing concern that the talks are dragging on.

'We were hoping the Strip would have been settled by now,' Bagley said. 'We've seen the contract with Harrah's and we want to be like those employees, to be able to go back and do our jobs and relax about negotiations. We have great confidence in our leadership that something will be resolved.'

The Culinary kicked off the contract talks in late February with a rally for its negotiating committees. Taylor said at the time the landscape in Las Vegas had changed. Corporate buyouts combined several large gaming companies while private equity buyouts of other operators put a new twist on the talks.

'We know these companies are making money and the question I had was would they be willing to share their success with their workers who have helped them,' Taylor said. 'We're still finding out who wants to settle and who wants to fight.'

He said no new talks are currently planned with MGM Mirage.

MGM Mirage spokesman Feldman said the gaming company wants to continue negotiations with the union.

'We have put forth a comprehensive proposal that addresses every single issue that the union has raised, but they don't want to meet with us,' Feldman said. 'I guess meeting with the Hilton and Tropicana and smaller casinos is more important than responding to our proposal. We have yet to have a meaningful response, and that only comes from negotiations.'

The Culinary's contract talks have received national attention. Democratic presidential candidates, including perceived front-runners New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Illinois, Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, have flocked to the union hall to meet with the negotiating committees a half-dozen times. Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times wrote a lengthy profile on Taylor and the role the Culinary is playing in the election.

There has not been a strike by Culinary union workers on the Strip since 550 employees of the New Frontier walked off their jobs in September 1991 in a contract dispute with the Elardi family. The workers spent 2,325 days on the picket line until new owner Phil Ruffin took over at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 1, 1998. The walkout was the nation's longest-ever ongoing work stoppage.

In 1990 the Culinary conducted an 11-month strike at Binion's Horseshoe. In 2002, Culinary workers walked off their jobs at Golden Gate casino for eight days.

The last work stoppage on the Strip of any consequence took place in 1984 when 18,000 Culinary workers walked off their jobs citywide.

In 2004, the Culinary's Atlantic City affiliate oversaw a strike where 10,000 workers spent a month on the picket line in a contract dispute with seven Boardwalk casinos.

Taylor said management forcing a strike in 2007 would seem illogical, based on the success the gaming industry has shown financially in recent years.

'In this era of prosperity, I'm surprised they (the casinos) are willing to put themselves in this position,' Taylor said.



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