Wilhelm elected union president

John Wilhelm, the man credited with maintaining labor peace on the Las Vegas Strip in the last decade, was elected president of the international Culinary Union on Monday.

The 52-year-old Wilhelm, regarded as a rising star in the nation's labor movement, succeeds the legendary Ed Hanley, who announced he's stepping down July 31 after more than 25 years at the helm of the 300,000-member international union.

"Our union has built a solid foundation for the future, and now it's time for me to turn the union's leadership over to a new generation," Hanley said in breaking the news of his retirement.

Hanley, a hard-nosed labor leader plagued by rumors of ties to organized crime throughout his career, had been grooming Wilhelm as his successor the past couple of years. He persuaded Wilhelm to run for secretary-treasurer -- the international union's No. 2 spot -- on his ticket in 1996.

On Monday, Hanley recommended Wilhelm, a soft-spoken Yale graduate, as his successor at the international union's executive board meeting in Chicago. Wilhelm was elected by a unanimous vote.

Wilhelm, who takes over Aug. 1, will serve the remaining three years of Hanley's five-year term. If Wilhelm wants to serve beyond 2001, he'll have to be elected by a vote of the entire membership.

"I'm excited to be able to succeed one of the great labor leaders of America and have an opportunity to build on what he has done," Wilhelm told the Sun from Chicago.

Wilhelm, who has spent the past 11 years serving as the Culinary Union's lead negotiator with Las Vegas casinos, said he plans to remain active in local labor affairs.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed myself here," Wilhelm said. "I've made a lot of friends. I wouldn't even think of not being involved here."

Wilhelm, who has the ear of top AFL-CIO leaders, is credited with creating a strategy that for the most part has allowed the casino industry and the Culinary Union to flourish as partners rather than adversaries.

Culinary Workers Local 226, which has not gone on strike on a large scale since 1984, has swelled during this period of cooperation to more than 40,000 members and has been praised as one of the most dynamic unions in the nation.

Local 226's dynamic growth has led AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to call Las Vegas the "hottest union city in America."

Wilhelm's biggest success story in Las Vegas may have been his ability to engineer an end to the Frontier hotel-casino strike, which lasted more than six years.

The Frontier strike, one of the longest in history, is regarded as a symbol of Sweeney's invigorated labor movement. The dispute ended Feb. 1 when Kansas industrialist Phil Ruffin took over the Frontier.

Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Jim Arnold said Monday that Hanley's decision to send Wilhelm to Las Vegas was one of the best he had made.

"John has helped to turn our local around to become one of the most progressive, strongest and fastest-growing locals in the nation," Arnold said. "I can think of no one better suited to continue Mr. Hanley's leadership."

Arnold said Wilhelm has dedicated his life to improving "the quality of life for all working men and women."

Wilhelm indicated he was looking forward to doing the same things he did in Las Vegas in locals across the country.

The key to the Culinary Union's strength here, he said, is the involvement of its rank-and-file members.

"I want to build on what we've accomplished in Las Vegas," Wilhelm said.

Wilhelm, thrust into prominence last year as a member of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, probably will receive more national exposure as president of the international Culinary Union.

He also is expected to succeed Hanley on the AFL-CIO's influential executive council, which recently met in Las Vegas. Wilhelm could be elected as early as the council's next meeting Aug. 5-6 in Chicago.

Hanley's retirement, meanwhile, had been rumored for months as a court-appointed federal monitor moved to complete his work.

He said he felt he had a responsibility to see the union through the monitorship, which was created to detect any elements of organized crime within the international.

In March, the monitor, Kurt Muellenberg, a former ranking Justice Department official, ended his oversight of the union.

Culinary officials said they were told Muellenberg will conclude that the mob does not have influence over the international union and Hanley.

Hanley, however, doesn't plan a clean break from the union.

He said he will hold onto his duties as chairman of the Culinary Union's massive welfare and pension funds for at least another year.

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