Thursday, Jan. 15, 1998 | 10:08 a.m.
Brimming with confidence after winning approval to run the New Frontier hotel-casino, Kansas industrialist Phil Ruffin said Wednesday he's ready to restore the troubled Strip resort to its former glory.
And he'll be getting a lot of help from the American labor movement, which is celebrating an end to a six-year Culinary Union strike, the nation's longest.
"I believe we're going to make a big success out of this project," said Ruffin, who breezed through a license hearing at the state Gaming Control Board.
It took the Control Board less than 10 minutes to declare Ruffin clean as a whistle to assume control from outgoing owner Margaret Elardi.
"I think this transaction has resolved a very difficult situation in Southern Nevada," Control Board Chairman Bill Bible said afterwards. "This is a win for the Elardis, a win for the Culinary Union and a win for the local community."
The board's quick 3-0 vote was met with a loud round of applause from some 35 Culinary Union members in the audience.
"I think it's terrific," Vince Curreri, a strike captain on the Frontier picket line, said afterwards. "It's a great day for all of us. We'll make this place a success."
Ruffin, who owns a dozen Marriott hotels, said he won't compete for the "high-end" gaming business of such neighbors as The Mirage, but instead will look to lure patrons from middle America.
He added, however, that he hopes to build a walkway linking the upscale Fashion Show Mall to his resort.
John Wilhelm, the international Culinary Union leader who helped Ruffin strike a $165 million deal to buy the Frontier, promised to back Ruffin to the hilt when the wealthy businessman takes over at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 1.
"I think Mr. Ruffin faces enormous challenges," Wilhelm said. "We're anxious to help him as much as we can."
Wilhelm said international Culinary Union President Ed Hanley will host a reception at the New Frontier March 19 to introduce Ruffin to the biggest names in the labor movement. The AFL-CIO's executive council is holding its annual spring meeting in Las Vegas for the first time ever from March 18-20.
Nevada AFL-CIO boss Blackie Evans also is hosting a two-day retreat at the New Frontier this spring with labor leaders from all 50 states.
Jim Arnold, secretary-treasurer of the local Culinary Union, predicted Ruffin will be a "big asset" to the community once he settles in at the New Frontier.
Arnold said the union is planning a massive block party at 9 p.m. Jan. 31 outside the resort to celebrate the end of the strike, which began Sept. 21, 1991.
Top labor leaders from across the nation and Canada are expected to march back into the hotel with most of the original 550 Frontier strikers when Ruffin takes over after midnight.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who walked the picket line several times during the epic labor dispute, expect to be on hand.
The perseverance of the Frontier strikers became a symbol of a new energetic labor movement spearheaded by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who last year called Las Vegas the "hottest" union city in America.
Wilhelm, the No. 2 man in the international Culinary Union, called the Frontier conflict "the most meaningful strike in the United States since World War II."
"It's unheard of in the modern era for a strike to go on this long without one single striker returning to work across the picket line," he said.
Wilhelm suggested that more national labor leaders may have walked the Frontier picket line over the years than any other in American history.
Steve Cohen, a lawyer for Elardi, said the outgoing owner and her family are "relieved" that their fight with the Culinary Union finally is over.
He said the family wished Ruffin "all the best."
At the Control Board hearing Wednesday, Wilhelm made a point of thanking Elardi for helping bring a happy ending to the strike.
Ruffin now must go before the Nevada Gaming Commission next week for final approval before he officially can take the reins of the hotel-casino on Feb. 1.
The new owner has promised to bring in the "finest people" within his business empire and the gaming industry to run the New Frontier.
Veteran casino executive Darrell Luery has been named president of the New Frontier. Mike Murray, who ran Ruffin's Marriott hotel-casino in the Bahamas, will become general manager. And longtime oddsmaker Lenny Del Genio will run the sports book.
Ruffin's 26-year-old son, Chris, is also moving to Las Vegas from Long Beach to head up the New Frontier's hotel reservations department.
Wilhelm said about 250 strikers plan to return to work at the New Frontier, which will open with a union contract.
Ruffin is sending a transition team to the New Frontier to prepare for an orderly takeover.
archive
