Union politics

This time next month, when the daytime temperature finally drops below 100 degrees, the Strip might get extra hot.

If the hardball currently being played by the Culinary union doesn’t result in a home run for its 60,000 members and card check rights at CityCenter, you can expect the pickets along Bellagio’s iconic lakefront sidewalk to pick up lots of media coverage.

Democratic presidential candidates have promised to walk, not just in union members’ shoes (as some already have) but alongside brothers and sisters in a show of labor bona fides. Sen. Hillary Clinton announced last week, during yet another speech to the Culinary Local 226, that she would walk the line.

It seems the candidates would like someplace other than Chicago’s Congress Plaza Hotel to walk picket lines. That strike, by UNITE HERE, is four years old. The Culinary’s looming dispute would offer presidential hopefuls the chance to flex labor muscle in a battleground state that still has some early-caucus clout.

Although the Culinary’s current blustering is designed more to keep talks fresh and avoid a strike against MGM Mirage, the state’s largest employer, the preparations alone make it interesting to see how labor unrest with the gaming giant could have national implications.

The Culinary has already warned travel agents a strike could be nigh, and the union is working out sympathy deals that could result in labor brethren walking out with them. The Ironworkers had yet to finalize such a locking of arms by last week, but rumbling within the union after the death of another construction worker at the CityCenter site is fueling sentiment against MGM Mirage.

No one expects the Strip to grind to that kind of halt for tourists and CityCenter investors, but the saber-rattling makes for fine political theater.

Clinton, John Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama would have to coordinate their picketing. Either they’d alternate days, or the Bellagio picket line would look something like one of the myriad cable TV debates, with candidates lined up side by side. Only in this arena, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Chris Dodd would by vying for who chants the best “Si, se puede,” instead of who can get a word in edgewise.

If the Culinary goes with its traditional red shirts for the strike, the presidential candidates will undoubtedly have to sport a color they’d rather not see in Nevada — the whole idea is to turn the state blue in the 2008 election.

The pandering will continue until either a deal is struck or the union strikes. If that picket goes up, it’ll be a race to squeeze in all of the Democratic contenders before MGM Mirage says “no mas.”

This is the kind of unbelievable yet conceivable situation made possible in part because Obama has courted the Culinary five times and the other candidates aren’t far behind.

When Sen. Harry Reid pushed for Nevada to become an early state in the Democratic presidential nominating process — it’s scheduled for Jan. 19, between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary — he hyped the state’s Hispanic population and labor presence. What could be a more perfect illustration for national media trying to plan coverage than labor unrest in one of the first three states?

The Moveon.org wing of the Democratic Party would be pleased as well.

Journalists are already salivating at the prospect of Reid, the Senate majority leader, walking the line with the Culinary while his political action committee and campaign accounts are flush with MGM Mirage money.

But the potential Culinary strike brings less uneasiness to the presidential contenders. To win Nevada, a Democrat needs a heck of a grass-roots organization, the support of labor or the backing of Hispanic voters. And because the vote is still out on the influence of Latinos, the Culinary still holds that magical spot at the crossroads of the caucus.

But presidential politics stew on the back burner while the Culinary is trying to settle. The candidates can be brought up to a boil to help when needed, but the Culinary’s intent is to stir the big pot with MGM Mirage. If one of the candidates gets burned in the process, so be it.

A distracted Culinary union is about as beneficial to a political organization as an outdated voter roll. Case in point: state Sen. Dina Titus, who won the union’s endorsement and the party’s nomination for governor last year, but lost the election. The Culinary was more interested in unseating Republican Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald and gearing up for labor talks with Harrah’s and MGM Mirage.

Now, with half of the Strip and downtown properties still lacking Culinary contracts, the presidential candidates better hope a strike (if it comes) won’t last long. If the army has to wear red, they hope it’s marching for them.

Erin Neff’s column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.