Adelson, Culinary won't budge

The international president of the Culinary Union joined 1,000 Culinary members Tuesday to picket the Venetian, where he blasted owner Sheldon Adelson's "anti-union, anti-Las Vegas" activities.

It was the sixth union protest outside of the Venetian since the resort opened in May.

John Wilhelm, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees international union, also known as the Culinary Union, vowed that his union was "prepared to do whatever needs to be done" to force the Venetian into recognizing the union, even if it takes years of picketing.

"What's fueled the Las Vegas miracle over the past decade is labor-management cooperation and the lack of anti-labor activities," Wilhelm said. "(Adelson) doesn't want to work with anyone in town. This is a man that is very dangerous to the community."

William Weidner, president of Venetian parent Las Vegas Sands Inc., said the union's picketing activities were ruining the experience of the Strip for visitors. He vowed that the Venetian would not back down in the face of increased union protests, and would not hold any discussions with union officials unless employees voted for it.

"We're trying to improve the ambiance of Las Vegas Boulevard, and what do they do? Whistles, signs and chants," Weidner said. "And they say we're anti-Las Vegas.

"The protests haven't affected us at all. If they want to have 16 protests, they can go ahead. It's not of our doing, it's of their doing."

During the Tuesday afternoon protest, the union played loud rock music through a public address system while protesters chanted through bullhorns. The Venetian responded by playing classical music at full blast through its outside speakers.

Jim Arnold, local Culinary Union secretary-treasurer, was arrested and cited with trespassing at the rally. Arnold said he plans to use the arrest to further the union's legal battle over whether the sidewalks belong to the Venetian or are public property.

The Venetian has said the only way it will accept unionization is through a secret ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The resort maintains that a secret ballot is the only fair method for employees to determine if they want to unionize.

But Wilhelm said the union will not consider a NLRB vote because it fears that the resort would drag out the process with years of legal action. He cited the election at the Santa Fe hotel-casino as an example.

Five years ago the NLRB oversaw an election at the Santa Fe, which the union claims it won. The company, however, appealed the results. Last year, it exhausted its appeals and began negotiating with the union.

The union is demanding a "card count" at the Venetian, in which employees sign cards saying they want union representation. Unlike an NLRB ballot, the card-count process is not anonymous. The card count is the union's favored method of organization in Las Vegas, and has been used at most Strip resorts.

Wilhelm accused Adelson and the Venetian of "hiding behind the NLRB" while attacking the union.

"We don't need years of legal skirmishing here ... we need an overall resolution," Wilhelm said. "We tried to meet with Mr. Adelson several years ago, and he wouldn't even do that."

That unwillingness to hold any discussions with union officials, coupled with the Venetian's ongoing skirmishes with its building contractor and subcontractors and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, is the reason that the union is focusing so much on the Venetian rather than such nonunion casinos as Station Casinos or the Rio, Wilhelm said.

"Station Casinos is nonunion, and we're talking with their employees, but they're not trying to destroy everything this town is about," he said.

Station has more than 7,000 employees in Las Vegas at four major hotel-casinos and at other properties. A Station spokesman said he wasn't aware of any discussions between the company and the Culinary Union.

The Rio was seen as an expansion opportunity when it was bought out by Harrah's -- a unionized company -- in 1998, but little has materialized since then. The Rio has said it is not in negotiations with the Culinary Union. Arnold said the union is currently trying to organize workers there, and that there is "lots of interest" among Rio workers in unionization.

Not included on the union's list of unionized casinos are such properties as Sam's Town, the Fiesta, the Reserve, Arizona Charlie's, the Resort at Summerlin and the Orleans. The only other big nonunion casino on the Strip is Imperial Palace.

But the Santa Fe and the Venetian are the only nonunion properties regularly picketed by the Culinary.

Wilhelm said that Adelson's battle to prevent the expansion of Las Vegas Convention Center could jeopardize thousands of union jobs. And dozens of small unionized subcontractors could be put out of business by nonpayment of bills by the Venetian and construction manager Lehrer McGovern Bovis Inc., he said.

"We've worked hand-in-hand with responsible companies for years, and we continue to work with anybody who wants to help the growth and prosperity of this community," Wilhelm said.

Weidner believes the real reason for the union's interest in the casino are the millions of dollars in annual dues the 7,000 employees could provide to the organization.

"This is a huge property, and if they convert this property, they get a huge amount of income," Weidner said. "They might have to organize four or five smaller casinos to get the same amount of income.

"It's in the business of generating income. They're trying to force us to make our employees pay them money. But I don't know what the union thinks it can sell to these people for $390 per year (in union dues)."

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