Las Vegas Gaming WireLAS VEGAS, Nevada — A 5 1/2-hour meeting Monday failed to produce significant movement in contract talks between the Tropicana and Culinary union, union and company officials said Tuesday.While the parties are far apart on many core issues, neither side has discussed a date for canceling the current contract or for a strike.
Tropicana’s lead negotiator, Mark Ricciardi, a local labor attorney, said Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 have yet to present a formal counter to a proposal the property made in December.
Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said the negotiating committee is still working through the proposal.
“We’ve been going through, in detail, their proposal,” Taylor said. “They’ve put in a lot of different stuff we don’t understand at all. They have to justify and explain it. It’s a slow process because there’s so much.”
The union wants clarification on many parts of the proposal, including sections dealing with guaranteed work weeks, definitions of shifts, and the use of part-time workers and subcontractors.
The Tropicana also wants to replace the union’s health plan and pension plan.
While the union examine the proposal, it has suggested some language changes on some noneconmic issues that the property has accepted, Ricciardi said.
“We have made significant modifications to our proposal based upon the talks,” Ricciardi said. “(Monday) they asked a lot of questions and had a lot of comments about our proposed language.”
The talks came at the end of a contentious week, with the sides using local media to exchange allegations of misconduct.
The 50-year-old property is the last Strip hotel-casino without a new contract for Culinary union workers. Nearly 750 workers have been working on extended contracts since the previous agreement expired May 31.
Monday was the fourth time the two sides have met since August. They will meet again Feb. 28.
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