Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

labor:

Culinary Union comes out swinging against planned fountain at UFC headquarters

Despite an early knockdown, the Culinary Union isn't giving up its fight to wrestle a proposed water fountain at the new Ultimate Fighting Championship headquarters into submission.

In a showdown befitting the Octagon, dozens of union members clad in red T-shirts packed a Clark County Zoning Commission hearing last week, urging the commission to reject what they called the "irresponsible" water feature.

By a 5-2 margin, the commission voted in favor of the fountain, but the union has kept up the pressure, publicly condemning the decision this week and asking for reconsideration.

The show of force raises the question: Why is an organization that represents 55,000 casino employees policing the UFC’s water use?

Union officials say their membership cares about the region's water security in the face of prolonged drought. Water fountains are wasteful and typically not allowed in the Las Vegas area, said secretary-treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline. "Water is a public issue for our members and for the entire community," she said. "We believe the county commissioners really have to go back and say 'No' to the UFC's wasteful water fixture."

But lurking just below the surface of the dispute is a long-running and bitter feud between two of the valley's most politically powerful entities.

For decades, the Culinary Union has worked unsuccessfully to organize employees of Station Casinos, whose owners, brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, also control UFC's parent company Zuffa LLC.

The union's antagonism has mostly been directed at Station Casinos properties in the form of marches and demonstrations, but the union hasn't been shy about going after businesses with Station ties, including the UFC. The union, and its national affiliate UNITE HERE, has chased the promotion company to Boston, where it protested the 2013 bout of fighter Chael Sonnen, who had been convicted of money laundering, and to New York, where it lobbied to keep a law in place banning mixed-martial arts events in the state. The union even took to YouTube in 2012 to lambaste pop star Mandy Moore over her enthusiasm for ultimate fighting, accusing her of not being a "good role model."

The current dust-up involves the UFC's plans to build a 1,070-square-foot pond with fountains that would shoot water up eight inches into the air at their new headquarters near the 215 Beltway and Torrey Pines Drive.

The company's engineers said that while the water serves aesthetic purposes, it is also a critical part of the building's air cooling system, reducing energy consumption by as much as 10 percent.

While outdoor water features are typically banned in Las Vegas, they are allowed when used as part of a building's cooling system, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The Culinary Union has seized on an initial county staff report that called the pond "not consistent" with water conservation efforts, even though staff later reversed their position.

Arguello-Kline argues that water will be needlessly lost to evaporation, something the UFC denies, and has tried to portray the county's decision in favor of the feature as "special treatment" for Station Casinos, a major political donor throughout the state. Clark County commissioners have denied any favoritism for UFC or Station Casinos.

Station spokeswoman Lori Nelson described the union's actions as "bully tactics" meant to pressure the company. "It's astonishing how the Culinary Union continues to unnecessarily harass and bully hundreds of innocent companies and organizations indirectly tied to Station Casinos out of their continued frustration that they have not been able to persuade the majority of our team members to join their union," Nelson said.

Despite the union’s efforts, commission rules make it unlikely that the vote will be reversed. That means the UFC can build the fountain and the Culinary Union will have to wait another round to try and land a knockout.

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