Here’s a brief history of the longest strike in American history.
In 1991, the Frontier was one of five former Howard Hughes-owned casinos (out of six) still standing. It had passed into the hands of Margaret Elardi in 1988, then-owner of the Pioneer Hotel in Laughlin. According to a 2003 reminiscence by Gregory Crosby, writing in the Las Vegas Mercury, the Elardi family immediately set to "stripping the Frontier of whatever frills it still had in a bid to go after low-income gamblers, ditching the showroom (and sending Siegfried and Roy on to their spectacular success at The Mirage)." The Silver Slipper, which Mrs. Elardi also bought, was demolished and replaced with a parking lot.
Another "frill" of which the Elardis wished to rid themselves was union representation. They terminated pension-fund contributions, spied on employees, and –- as a federal court later ruled –- levied unfair work rules. This series of provocations prompted several unions to take a strike vote on Sept. 19, 1991, and it wasn’t even close: 464 "ayes" to seven "nays." Four locals –- Culinary 226, Bartenders 165, Teamsters 995, and Operating Engineers 501 –- took to the pavements, 550 members strong, and "strong" would come to be the operative word over the next six-plus years.
Both sides fired off salvoes of verbiage. From the Elardi camp came the following: "The corrupt Culinary Union has been attacking the Elardis for several months … If the union wants to make war in the state of Nevada, [we] will make them wish they never started the war." To which the Culinary’s then-Secretary/Treasurer Jim Arnold responded that Mrs. Elardi was "starting a war that I think nobody wants … either sell or settle." Time would tell which of those two options it would be.
The bellicose language was appropriate, considering that the Frontier was subsequently under siege by the union, making it a pariah among Strip casinos. Dave Berns, in a Las Vegas Review-Journal retrospective, described the ensuing strife as a series of "rallies and arrests, fistfights, political posturing, propaganda campaigns, lawsuits, accusations of spying, indictments, and impasses."
Then-chairman of Circus Circus Enterprises, William Bennett, taking the side of labor (and perhaps seeing a chance to kneecap a competitor) said, "Las Vegas has enough of an image problem without the Frontier making it worse." Throughout the strike, Bennett sent a chow wagon down to the Frontier, seeing to it that strikers were fed three square meals a day. Other union-friendly casino owners –- Donald Trump, Steve Wynn, Hilton Gaming boss Arthur Goldberg -- floated the idea of buying out the Elardis.
Some of the union’s early tactics were confrontational in the extreme. During the first week, strikers formed a human chain that barricaded Strip traffic for 90 minutes. Police made nearly 100 arrests. After that, the Culinary settled into the drudgery of pavement-pounding. Picketers were videotaped by the Elardis, who said they had visual evidence of protestors indecently exposing themselves, as well as using racial and ethnic epithets.
The Elardis’ biggest publicity coup came nearly two years into the strike, when a pair of tourists from California clashed with union members. One of the Californians, Sean White, got clocked with a picketer’s beer mug. Although the Culinary later settled up with White, it had handed the Elardi family a publicity bonanza. Full-page newspaper ads purchased by the Frontier charged, "... Beating up tourists will be a shortcut to [the unions’] extortionate ends."
That PR victory was followed by a string of losses in court, culminating in a June 9, 1997, ruling by the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB ordered the Frontier to cease its surveillance of union members and to start good-faith negotiations. It was roughly at this point that the Elardis decided they would rather sell than settle.
You see, a new player had entered the game. Kansas entrepreneur Phil Ruffin was interested in acquiring the Frontier and made no secret that his first order of business would be to agree to a new pact with the strikers. This was music to the ears of strife-weary Nevada casino regulators, who approved Ruffin’s $167 million purchase in expeditious fashion.
In late January 1998, shortly before taking the keys to the Frontier, Ruffin inked an agreement with the four striking unions, plus Carpenters Local 1780. Any of the 550 strikers who wanted to return could have their jobs back. (Scabs who had taken their place at the Frontier were not so lucky.) Explained Ruffin, "Anybody with balls enough to stay out there on a deal like this we want as our employees."
To solemnize the change of mentality, Ruffin rechristened the casino the New Frontier, formally taking possession at 12:01 a.m. on Feb. 1, 1998. Symbolically, he crossed the threshold of his new casino in company with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and hundreds of formerly striking employees.
As they wrapped up their picketing, strikers received a visit from Bill Bennett, now owner of the Sahara. Said one picketer, "Thank you, Mr. Bennett. I hope you live forever." Sadly, it was not to be. Bennett died Dec. 22, 2002, at the age of 78. However, he lived to see an era in which it was a given that a Strip casino would be run as a union shop. MGM Grand opened as a non-union casino during the era of the Frontier siege, but quickly made peace with the Culinary.
Today, the Strip’s biggest holdout is Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Venetian and Palazzo. However, as he likes to point out, Adelson is able to keep the Culinary at bay by offering salaries and benefits that are as good or better –- something he would not have to do were the union not so firmly entrenched up and down Las Vegas Boulevard.
As for Margaret Elardi, she’s still in the casino business. Currently, she owns Casino Royale, home of the most prominent Denny’s in Vegas. Mrs. Elardi avoids contact with the press and generally maintains a low profile.
The New Frontier maintains no profile whatsoever, having been imploded on Nov. 13, 2007. With it went the last remnant of the Howard Hughes era in Vegas, all of the Frontier’s brethren having preceded it to that Big Casino in the Sky.
