Laborers union challenges Culinary over stance against Las Vegas stadium project

A proposal for a $1.9 billion NFL stadium to Las Vegas has created a rift between two local unions.

Culinary Local 226 opposes the project’s proposed public funding source: Clark County hotel room tax dollars that are paid by visitors. Laborers Local 872 strongly supports what would become the new home for the Oakland Raiders, citing the thousands of construction jobs it would create.

And one of the stadium plan’s private partners sees the Culinary’s position as a vehicle to protest nonunion hotels.

The Laborers union represents 3,200 Southern Nevada construction workers. Union Secretary, Treasurer and Business Manager Tommy White is not happy that the Culinary launched an online video ad against the stadium plan.

“If the Culinary union wants to be opposed to it (the stadium), and they don’t want people to work inside the convention center and the stadium, we’ll be happy to man those jobs, too,” he said Thursday. “I’m not about to let anyone in our way to build the stadium.”

State lawmakers are expected to be called into a special session next week to consider separate room tax increases to fund $750 million in stadium construction costs and $1.4 billion in upgrades to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The balance of the stadium’s construction costs would be funded by the Raiders and the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Andy Abboud, vice president of government relations and community development for Las Vegas Sands, said he believes the Culinary opposes the stadium project because Adelson supports it. The two Las Vegas Sands resorts on the Strip, The Venetian and Palazzo, do not have operating contracts with the Culinary union. The Culinary has protested at The Venetian for years.

Abboud said Culinary representatives have declined offers to meet with Sands officials to discuss the stadium proposal. The Adelsons have committed $650 million of their personal wealth to the stadium deal but are being represented by Sands officials in stadium negotiations.

“We’re not surprised by it and we’re not affected by it,” Abboud said. “The coalition that is forming behind the stadium is very strong, and I think by the time we get to the special session (of the Nevada Legislature), it will be very effective.”

Station Casinos, which has been a target of Culinary protests as part of the union’s efforts to organize company properties, supports the stadium deal.

“This is exactly the kind of investment our economy needs,” Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said.

A Culinary spokeswoman declined an interview about the union’s online ad and opposition to the stadium, but released a statement.

“We urge you not to support public funding for a stadium that could be funded privately by its own wealthy proponents,” the statement reads. “We should not use public dollars to fund an expensive stadium for billionaires and an NFL team that is part of a business that makes billions each year in TV deals alone.”

Mark Ricciardi, an attorney who has been practicing labor and employment law in Las Vegas about 30 years, said he believes the history between Sands and the Culinary factored into the union’s opposition. Ricciardi added that he didn’t see the Culinary and Laborers unions’ discord over the stadium deal as a forecast for further disagreement.

“Among construction unions, the Laborers union is more outspoken, and I think it’s not surprising to hear them take such a heated approach,” he said. “Will it change the relationship between the two unions? I don’t think so, because at the end of the day when big issues come up regarding unions, they will stick together.”

White said the Laborers union has been “110 percent” behind the stadium “since Day One.”

Earlier this year Laborers union members wore mock Raiders jerseys to meetings of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which recommended the project to Gov. Brian Sandoval. They brought a firetruck painted with the Raiders colors, black and silver, with the Raiders logo on the side.

Union members also attended a Monday rally at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center to support the project.

White estimated the 65,000-seat domed stadium could create 3,000 to 4,000 construction jobs. That, combined with service industry jobs the completed stadium would create, makes the deal a no-brainer, he added.

“During the months of October, November, December and January, that’s the slowest months for hotel workers, banquet workers, all represented by the Culinary union,” he said. “They would put thousands of people to work just based on when football season is.”

The Culinary sees it differently.

The 57,000-member organization, Nevada’s largest union, released an online video ad last week warning those who support its proposed public-private financing that it’s a bad deal for taxpayers. Through rhymes and illustrations, “Stadium Scrooge” posits that crime prevention, road repair and public schools are better uses for the room tax dollars than the stadium.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477- 3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.