Article

Urban Studies 2015, Vol. 52(9) 1683–1701 Ó Urban Studies Journal Limited 2014 Learning from Las Vegas: Unions Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav and post-industrial urbanisation DOI: 10.1177/0042098014536787 usj.sagepub.com

Mia Gray University of Cambridge, UK

James DeFilippis Rutgers University, USA

Abstract Las Vegas is often portrayed as the apogee of postmodern urbanism, but we argue that you can- not understand Las Vegas without understanding the role of unions in the City’s political econ- omy. By focusing on the social relations surrounding workplace, class, and gender we highlight alternative versions of Las Vegas’ history. The Culinary Union, a UNITE HERE local, has intro- duced new institutional forms and played an active role in the local growth coalition. They have set standards around work intensity, training, and job ladders. Highlighting the ability of the union to affect these issues contributes to a counter-narrative about the City which stresses the agency of labour to actively produce Las Vegas’ cultural and economic landscapes. The postmodern nar- rative about Las Vegas hides these important lessons. Learning from Las Vegas can transform issues of signs and symbolism to issues of union organising and institutional structures in the post-industrial economy.

Keywords institutional innovation, labour organising, local growth coalitions, place dependence, postmo- dern, UNITE HERE

Received August 2013; accepted April 2014

Each city is an archetype rather than a proto- urban form has been treated as a main char- type, an exaggerated example from which to acter, in and of itself. In this narrative, Las derive lessons for the typical. Vegas is often portrayed as a postmodern Venturi (1977) fantasy world where what really matters are the City’s signs, symbols and facades; its For decades, the city of Las Vegas has been embrace of spectacle; and its ability to con- at the centre of many stories – not only in stantly reinvent itself. Here, the city is a film and novels, but also in promotional lit- erature produced by local boosters, investors and academics. In many of these narratives, Corresponding author: Mia Gray, Department of Geography, University of Las Vegas has not only been a setting for Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK. scenes of avarice, vice, and greed, but its Email: [email protected] 1684 Urban Studies 52(9) malleable urban space competing for the Las Vegas is a postmodern landscape. tourist gaze and the gambling dollar where But that landscape, like all landscapes, is a landscapes, as well as fortunes, are made product of human labour (Mitchell, 1996). and unmade overnight. It is therefore also a city shaped and struc- In this account, Las Vegas is held up as a tured by one of the basic institutions that unique environment and a distinct mode of marked modernism – labour unions. Over development. And indeed, the region is dif- the years, Las Vegas has not only become ferent than most other metropolitan areas in the ‘hottest union city in America’, it was the United States. Tourism, gaming and the also the site of one of the longest running hospitality industries dominate the region labour disputes in modern American history. and the service sector makes up an unusually Las Vegas’ labour unions have created a mix large portion of its economic base. Las of older and newer institutional arrange- Vegas is therefore the quintessential postmo- ments that has resulted in higher wages and dern urban form and post-industrial eco- benefits for many working in the low-end of nomic landscape. the service sector (Gray, 2004). Unions have But what makes Las Vegas interesting is been a major actor helping deliver the quoti- not its inimitable character, but that it has dian routine of service-sector production in often been held up as an archetype, a model Las Vegas, but crucially, they have also been for emulation, an exaggerated form of the fundamental in shaping the daily patterns of American norm. From the work of Robert social reproduction in the lives of its Venturi and his associates at Yale, to work workers. by Mark Gottdiener and his colleagues, as By organising so successfully, unions have well as Sharon Zukin and her students, the transformed the region, and the power rela- image of Las Vegas as an extreme, but nor- tions that partially constitute it. In 1997, the mal, American city has run through the aca- then AFL-CIO president John Sweeney pre- demic understandings of the city. dicted that ‘just as surely as New York set Las Vegas has been a favourite case study the (labour union) standards for the past 100 for postmodern scholars who, following in years, Las Vegas will be setting them for the the footsteps of Venturi and his colleagues, next 100 years’ (Associated Press, 1997). stress the City’s playful juxtaposition of Thus, Las Vegas is being held up once again kitsch and simulacra. These accounts stress as a model for the nation; Las Vegas is a city Las Vegas as a symbol, image, or represen- to learn from. tation. Although these stories of Las Vegas In the next section, we analyse the exist- are appealing, and certainly entertaining, we ing literature and argue that it offers an argue that they are incomplete, they encour- incomplete account of the dynamics of the age a fundamental misunderstanding of the City. We then explore union strategies and city, and that, ironically, they erase the city’s successes in Las Vegas. Through interviews social history – struggles around class, immi- with local union officials and secondary data gration and ethnicity. This typical postmo- and literature, we explore the extent to dern narrative about Las Vegas ignores the which the Las Vegas union movement, par- political economy of the city – workplace ticularly the unions organising in the hotels relations and class and ethnic conflict are and casinos, have produced a different almost completely absent from this litera- model of post-industrial labour relations. ture. This would be an oversight in studying Finally, we look at the union’s role in the any city, but it is a particularly important local growth coalition and the relationship omission when analysing Las Vegas. between place and space in this model of Gray and DeFilippis 1685 trade union organising. Ultimately, we argue chapels, and parking lots, and the ornamen- that there are important lessons to be tation and monumental quality of the build- learned from Las Vegas, if of a very different ings. They state, ‘Symbol dominates space nature than Venturi and his colleagues origi- . Because the spatial relationships are nally intended. Other cities and regions made by symbols more than by forms, archi- struggling with the growth of the new service tecture in this landscape becomes symbol in economy can learn about trade union orga- space rather than form in space . The sign nising and new institutional forms in a post- is more important than the architecture’ industrial context. (Venturi et al., 1977: 13). This leads to their logical conclusion that, ‘If you take the signs away there is no place’ (Venturi et al., Las Vegas without agency 1977: 21). In many ways Las Vegas has been under- Many have followed Venturi and his col- stood as the archetype of American urbani- leagues both in their fixation on the signs sation in the last 30–40 years. With the and symbols of Las Vegas and in the later exception of Los Angeles, probably no growth of the fantasy worlds of the massive American city has attracted the kind of corporate casinos and resorts. George Ritzer attention that Las Vegas has in terms of rep- states that: resenting the emerging forms of urbanisation in the postmodern world of signs, multipli- the simulated character of these settings helps city of meanings and consumption.1 This to make them magical. Thus Disney and Las Vegas can juxtapose a wide range of fake has taken numerous cultural forms including worlds within a single geographic area. film, photos and other visual mediums; Visiting so many ‘real’ worlds would require novels and popular press; as well as aca- far more expensive and time-consuming demic scrutiny. While there isn’t the space around the world journeys. Instead, one can here for a full discussion of all of that litera- magically visit their simulations in a single ture, a brief set of highlights should suffice. locale. (Ritzer, 2000: 190–191) It was the work of Yale architects Venturi, Brown and Izenor which drove the Likewise, William Fox highlights the inter- intellectual understanding of Las Vegas as section between simulacra and reality in the the crystallisation of new American urban- City’s use of public finance for new forms of ism, and their call for us to ‘learn from Las private museums. ‘Las Vegas offers us a fake Vegas’ has been heard and echoed many Venice with real paintings by Italian times over. Their work is important there- Renaissance masters. The fact that the spec- fore, because they see the significance of Las tacle is augmented by genuine art-works Vegas in both its role as the exemplar helps make it all the more believable as a American city, and its emphasis on symbo- whole’ (Fox, 2005: 168). The question, how- lism and representation over social relations, ever, is not so much whether Las Vegas is structures and even the built form (a bold authentic – a question that itself begs for statement, indeed, from architects). In so clarity on the all too elusive meaning of doing, they consciously held up Las Vegas ‘authentic’ (see Zukin, 2009) – but how we as an archetype –‘an exaggerated example understand it and its importance as a city. from which to derive lessons for the typical’ Even those writers that have not dwelt (Venturi et al., 1977: 18). The ‘typical’ for upon the issues of signs, symbolism and them was the competition among neon questions of authenticity have focused signs; the juxtaposition of casinos, wedding almost exclusively on Las Vegas as a city of 1686 Urban Studies 52(9) consumption and recreation. By consump- normalisation process works both ways, as tion we mean both the consumption of signs Las Vegas becomes more of a ‘typical’ and symbols and consumption in the more American city (which they argue has three Weberian sense. The city has been almost primary components: regional, multi-polar exclusively presented and understood as a development; domination of real estate capi- space for adult tourism and gaming. It is the tal over the city’s economic, and political, intertwining of the signs and symbols with development; and very large inequalities and the physical act of consumption (for social cleavages), and more and more instance, of a hotel room) for recreation and American cities become like Las Vegas (as amusement that have been projected as Las ‘place marketing’ and urban theme-parking Vegas’ meaning and importance as an urban become the norm) (see Sorkin, 1992). space. Likewise, Michael Dear (2000) uses the City Las Vegas is also often portrayed as an as an exemplar of the ‘youthful phase’ of archetypal example of contemporary postmodernism. Rothman shares this per- American urbanisation. This is particularly spective and states: true for work from two of the most signifi- cant theorists in contemporary urban sociol- Las Vegas now symbolizes the new America, ogy: Sharon Zukin and Mark Gottdiener. In the latest in American dream capitals. As New her work with her graduate students, Zukin York once defined the commercial economy moves from the images and practices of and Chicago, the city of big shoulders, epito- mized the industrial city, Las Vegas illustrates Coney Island to those of Las Vegas (Zukin, one of the pillars of the postindustrial postmo- et al., 1999) in their depiction of urbanisa- dern future. (Rothman, 2002: xxvii) tion as a process of consumption. Zukin et al. (1999) state: What these accounts, with a few notable exceptions (Alexander, 2002; Rothman, Although Coney Island once dominated the 2002), lack is an incorporation of labour in urban imaginary of wish fulfilment and fantas- the production of the landscape that is being tic growth, Las Vegas has taken its place. consumed. An urban landscape, like all Contemporary cities are no longer built on landscapes, is inherently the product of visible and tangible production but on money changing hands. Urban design no longer human labour which produces a form and delineates separate zones for work and leisure; physical environment that becomes a land- all become one in the consumption of an scape through the active processes of those image that is the city’s primary product. With consuming it. But many scholars who work these discursive practices, Las Vegas may well on Las Vegas seem to uncritically accept be called the typical ‘capitalist city’. (Zukin much of the fantasy. Academics’ embrace of et al., 1999: 647–648) the City’s facade helps to produce and repro- duce the narrative of postmodern Las Vegas. A comparable understanding is reached These works accept the built form as given, by Gottdiener and his colleagues, who argue rather than investigating or exploring how it throughout their book on the city that Las is actively produced through human labour Vegas represents not an anomaly but ‘several and the social relations and practices that important trends in contemporary American constitute that labour process. society’, albeit in an exaggerated form Some of the writing on Las Vegas is strik- (Gottdiener et al., 1999: xi). In their rich and ing in how poorly it deals with labour. After detailed work on the city they describe a pro- discussing the often poor working conditions cess of ‘normalisation’ of Las Vegas. This and pay of those employed in the consumer Gray and DeFilippis 1687 services sectors – particularly those in the and gender conflicts highlight alternative hospitality industries – Robert Parker states: versions of Las Vegas’ history. We use the ‘To a large extent, the financial welfare of hotel and casino, or ‘gaming’, industry as a these low-wage workers has been heavily case study.2 UNITE HERE3 is the parent dependent on the generosity of tourists who union of Culinary Workers Local 226, the augment service-worker incomes with tips’ largest and most powerful union in Las (Parker, 1999: 121). This is an astonishing Vegas which represents workers in the City’s statement, and one which denies the poten- hotels, casinos, and mega-resorts. The tial agency of workers to have any part in Culinary Workers Union has been exemplary the relations and structures that organise the in its results, tactics and institution building. production process of which they are a cen- Steven Greenhouse, the New York Times’ tral part. But it does worse than just deny labour correspondent, describes the Culinary the potential agency of workers, it completely Union as ‘unusually farsighted’, and the ‘most erases one of the most significant trends in successful union local’ in the United States the economics and politics of Las Vegas in and highlights the union’s rise from 18,000 the last 25 years: that Las Vegas has become workers in the late 1980s to nearly 50,000 one of the most heavily unionised cities in members two decades later (Greenhouse, the United States. 2008). The Union has been successful in orga- However, a few authors have begun to nising many typically ill-paid and insecure address this critical gap in the portrayals of occupations in the service sector, such as Las Vegas. Most notable among these are housekeepers, porters, desk clerks, and wait- the aforementioned Rothman (2002) book ing staff, and thus has become a model for Neon Metropolis, and the collection of essays organising in what Cobble calls post- he edited with Mike Davis, The Grit Beneath industrial unionism (Cobble, 1991). the Glitter (Rothman and Davis, 2002). Both That Las Vegas should come to represent works powerfully insert labour as an agent a model of a strong ‘union city’ is surprising in the city. While the urban studies literature both because of its conservative state legisla- has been mostly blind to the story of labour ture and its economic structure. First, in Las Vegas, that is certainly not true for Nevada is a right to work state. Right to labour studies researchers, who have pro- work laws forbid union membership as a duced a growing body of work on the city condition of employment. This allows firms (Chandler and Jones, 2011; Getman, 2010; to hire non-union employees at a union Sallaz, 2009). This article should be seen as workplace. Many US states have passed part of this effort to broaden and deepen the right to work legislation in order to lessen understandings of Las Vegas by highlighting the strength of unions and to create a ‘pro- labour’s role. In so doing, we hope to expand business’ environment. Nevada is no excep- the narrative framework which urban studies tion and the state legislation is backed up by scholars use to examine the City, and enable a non-profit group, Nevada Employees for a broadening of how the field of urban stud- the Right to Work (NERW), which issues ies understands the postmodern and post- periodic legal challenges to the unions in Las industrial city. Vegas (Fink, 1998). Secondly, Las Vegas’s economic structure Las Vegas as a union city is heavily skewed towards the service indus- tries. Virtually all of its employment is in ser- In this section, we argue that focusing on vice industries (Table 1). And more than one the social relations around workplace, class, in three workers is in leisure services (and 1688 Urban Studies 52(9)

Table 1. Employment in the Las Vegas MSA by industrial sector, 2012 (in thousands).

Las Vegas United States Sector Employment Percent Employment Percent

Total all non-agricultural industries 805.6 100.00% 134,427.6 100.00% Goods producing 55.3 6.86% 18,360.3 13.66% Mining 0.2 0.02% 800.5 0.60% Construction 35.4 4.39% 5640.9 4.20% Manufacturing 19.6 2.43% 11,918.9 8.87% Services producing 750.3 93.14% 116,067.3 86.34% Trade, transportation and utilities 149.2 18.52% 554.2 0.41% Wholesale 21.0 2.61% 5672.8 4.22% Retail 92.7 11.51% 14,875.3 11.07% Transportation, warehousing and utilities 35.5 4.41% 4414.7 3.28% Information 9.5 1.18% 2677.6 1.99% Financial activities 38.1 4.73% 7786.3 5.79% Professional and business services 98.8 12.26% 17,930.2 13.34% Education and health services 71.6 8.89% 20,318.7 15.11% Leisure and hospitality 266.0 33.02% 13,745.8 10.23% Casino hotels and gaming 163.1 20.25% 265.0 0.20% Government 93.2 11.57% 21,917.2 16.30%

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Las Vegas-Paradise, NV Economy at a Glance, 2012. one in five is directly employed in casinos or average of 7.3% (Hirsch and Macpherson, casino hotels). The city’s economy is there- 2013) (Figure 1), despite the almost complete fore much more service sector oriented than absence of manufacturing from the MSA, the national economy, and its concentration which has historically, and currently, higher is in consumer services, rather than producer union density than (private sector) services. services. Looking at the membership figures for Personal and consumer services are sec- the Culinary Union, we can see that the tors with traditionally low unionisation rates Union’s membership peaked in 2006 with since scattered work sites, high turnover, and over 51,000 members (see Table 2). Despite a largely non-union history make these sec- the loss of membership in the wake of the tors difficult to organise. For instance, the great recession of 2008, the Union’s mem- union coverage rate for ‘accommodation and bership has been remarkably solid and has food services’ in 2012 was only 2.5% nation- steadied at around 49,000 in 2013. This is wide, and in ‘amusement, gambling and despite the national context which has seen recreation industries’ it was 5.1% nationwide union membership and density rates con- (Hirsch and Macpherson, 2013). However, tinue to fall, even though the national labour despite these structural difficulties, Las market began its modest recovery in 2010 Vegas has impressive union density rates, (see Greenhouse, 2013), and the fact that the particularly in services. This is the result of Las Vegas area was particularly hard hit by three major unionisation efforts in hotels the housing bubble collapse. and casinos, hospitals, and construction. In While we cannot prove causality, the 2012, 14.4% of private sector workers in the Culinary Union’s success in generating and Las Vegas MSA were covered by union con- maintaining this kind of density must, in tracts. This is almost twice the national part, be explained by the resources it has put Gray and DeFilippis 1689

20.00% 18.00% 16.00% 14.00% 12.00% 10.00% 8.00% 6.00% 4.00% 2.00% 0.00% Naonal, private Las Vegas, private Naonal, all Las Vegas, all sector sector workers workers

Figure 1. Rates of union coverage for the Las Vegas MSA and nationwide, 2012. Source: Hirsch and Macpherson, 2013.

Table 2. Culinary Union, local 226 membership Table 3. Culinary Union employees. 2001–2013. Reporting period Percent of total Year Membership Change March 2011–2012 2001 42,080 – 2002 45,434 +.08 Total union 156 employees 100% 2003 42,288 2.07 employees 2004 44,408 +.06 Organising 90 58% 2005 51,102 +.15 Servicing 20 13% 2006 51,162 +.001 Researchers 6 4% 2007 50,443 2.01 2008 46,227 2.08 Source: US Department of Labor, LM2 reports. 2009 45,805 2.009 2010 47,567 +.04 2011 47,098 2.01 census of unions in California in 2001–2002 2012 47,472 +.01 highlighted the problem: they found that 2013 48,997 +.03 just 6.2% of union locals employed one or Source: US Department of Labor, LM2 reports. more organisers and only 1.9% employed three or more. Strikingly, a tiny 0.2% of all local unions in California employed more into organising. The AFL-CIO under John than 25 organisers. Sweeney, made union-building a priority Within this context, it is notable that the and called upon the union movement to Culinary Union in Las Vegas commits dedicate a larger portion of their budgets to roughly 40% of their annual income to organising. However, Milkman and Rooks external organising. This commitment can (2003) note that although many unions sup- be seen in their staffing priorities. Table 3 ported the rhetoric, many were reluctant to shows that in 2011, the Culinary Union had shift staffing priorities away from servicing 158 employees, 90 of whom were in organis- existing members. Milkman and Rooks’ ing. The Union’s commitment of resources 1690 Urban Studies 52(9) to organising needs to be understood in industry that is highly segmented by price comparison to only 20 union employees, and quality of service, the Culinary Union mostly grievance specialists, in the more tra- has targeted their organising efforts on the ditional ‘servicing’ mode. This level of com- high-priced ‘upscale’ hotels and casinos and mitment seems necessary to change the fate mid-priced ‘full service’ properties in urban of unions in the current political climate. areas or resorts rather than the lower-priced The importance of organising notwith- ‘economy’ or low-priced ‘budget’ establish- standing, the Union’s success also reflects ments in the suburbs or road-side locations the growth of the large corporate casinos in (Waddoups and Eade, 2002). These hotels Las Vegas. In 1968, the state of Nevada and resorts in the two upper market seg- passed a law to allow corporate ownership ments compete on quality, or service pro- of casinos. In response to this, from the vided, instead of price and are likely to value 1970s to the 1990s, the familial capitalism of the stable and well-trained workforce that a the smaller casinos was replaced by the large union can help provide.5 Low turnover in a corporate concerns and the average size of workforce leads to more firm-specific and the casinos and hotels increased exponen- industry knowledge, or human capital, tially. By the beginning of the twenty-first which leads to higher productivity and lower century, a typical Las Vegas hotel or resort recruitment costs. Following this logic, employed from 3000 to 5000 employees and Waddoups and Eade (2002) suggest that col- some had more than 10,000 (Casino City lective bargaining might help the up-scale Times, 2008). Although emblematic of the and full-service hotels and resorts produce service economy, in many ways, the scale the type of workforce they need, and thus, and scope of these casinos and resorts unions may encounter less resistance in this resemble the older industrial structure of the part of the market. post-war manufacturing. For example, the As a result of these targeted efforts, the work performed by house-keepers, or clea- Culinary Union estimates that over 90% of ners, in Las Vegas is carefully analysed by the Class A, luxury hotels and mega-resorts teams of professionals, in a contemporary in Las Vegas are now unionised. In fact, form of Taylorism, to determine the most only one major mega-resort, the Venetian, is efficient ways to clean a room. As D. not unionised. Its owner, Sheldon Adelson, Taylor, the union’s Treasurer,4 explained, is a significant figure in national conserva- ‘in many ways, it’s (Las Vegas) like a mod- tive and Republican party politics, and has ern Pittsburgh, but we produce drinks and resisted unionisation more strongly than the rooms instead of steel. It’s a modern factory’ other casino owners. In addition, the local (Mia Gray interview with D. Taylor, 2011). union estimates that nearly 70% of the local Many of the traditional arguments explain- casinos (those marketing themselves to the ing why service sector unionisation is partic- local residents rather than tourists) are orga- ularly difficult, such as the fragmentation of nised. This level of union density has given the service sector workforce and high rates the Culinary Union a large amount of lever- of turnover, become less important in this age with employers and has allowed them to environment. play an important role in structuring the Even more importantly, UNITE HERE’s local labour market within the industry. success in organising and helping shape the Analysing the contemporary success of local labour market in Las Vegas is depen- the Culinary Union allows us to start to con- dent upon their tactical organising in the struct a very different narrative around the upper segments of the market. In an importance of Las Vegas. This alternative Gray and DeFilippis 1691 story would have to foreground issues of kitchens. The former Secretary-Treasurer of race and gender. The level of unionisation the Culinary Union estimates that over 80% achieved by the Culinary Union is particu- of housekeepers in Las Vegas hotels are larly striking in an industry that is dispro- immigrants or women of colour – mostly portionately comprised of female workers, Latinas, African Americans, Asians, and many of them people of colour, since newer immigrants from Eastern Europe and women, ethnic minorities, and immigrants Bosnia, and over 40% are Hispanic (Mia were traditionally seen as particularly diffi- Gray interview with D. Taylor, 2011). cult to organise (Wells, 2000). Data from Chandler and Jones (2011) focus on the 2012 show that 68% of service workers and important role played by women in organis- 70% of labourers in the industry in Las ing the hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. Vegas are from a minority background Their interviews with the female housekeep- (EEOC, 2012). ing staff highlight the links between the Las Vegas has a long history of racial dis- physical nature of the work, the lack of dig- crimination against minority workers and nity on the job, and the development of a consumers. Sallaz (2009) details the legal and collective culture of resistance. For example, tactical fight of the NAACP (National the women describe injured knees, raw Association for the Advancement of Colored hands, and sore backs incurred while clean- People), starting as early as the 1930s, to ing rooms and standard poor treatment by stop the Las Vegas casinos discriminating employers. However, they also explain how, against African American consumers. over time, the high levels of camaraderie led Likewise, discriminatory employment prac- to the emergence of an alternative culture tices – where African Americans were limited between the women as ‘resistance was a criti- to the lowest-paying, least desirable occupa- cal part of the culture’. Chandler and Jones tions – were challenged in the 1970s, when (2011) argue that this was the foundation the US Department of Justice made an for collective resistance. example out of the Las Vegas gambling Equally important, Latino and African industry as they issued consent decrees and American women have played an extremely formal complaints against major corpora- important role in organising as well as being tions. This was reinforced by the large firms’ organised (Chandler and Jones, 2011). The need to obtain gambling licences from the Culinary Union has long prided itself on its State of Nevada. Sallaz argues that Las comprehensive organising tactics, which Vegas was used to make ‘a symbolic state- involve the continuous involvement of mem- ment’ that equitable labour market practices bers, but they also encouraged members – were an essential component of good corpo- housekeepers, waiting staff and laundry rate citizenship (Sallaz, 2009: 177). In the workers – to rise into leadership positions. politics of race, the nation was again meant For example, Hattie Canty, an African to learn from the example of Las Vegas. American former housekeeper in one of the As in many other parts of the service sec- Strip’s hotels, became president of the tor, an understanding of race in the labour Culinary Union in 1990. Although the mem- market is closely intertwined with that of bership of the union was predominantly gender. Las Vegas’ casinos and hotels have a female, Canty was the first woman to serve long history of African American and as the top officer. Canty is credited with Latino women, in particular, being heavily transforming the union by revitalising, orga- over-represented in the ‘backstage’ occupa- nising and persevering through the longest tions, particularly as cleaners and in the strike in US labour history. Her tenure in 1692 Urban Studies 52(9) office signalled a new era of labour organisa- Milkman (2000) reminds us that unions have tion in Las Vegas, particularly important in historically been an ‘avenue of assimilation’ overcoming race-oriented divisions in the for immigrants both by allowing civic partic- workplace, and helped reduce racial animos- ipation and by encouraging broader political ity in the ethnically diverse union (Taylor, involvement (see also Ness, 2005; Sterne, 2012). Stressing the tangible benefits of col- 2001). Importantly, in this incorporation of lective action, Canty oversaw a period where new immigrants, the Culinary Union has membership more than doubled. Likewise, been working to undermine the racial and the Union’s current Secretary-Treasurer, ethnic divisions that can often be produced and vice president of the UNITE HERE and reproduced in industries that are seg- international, Geoconda Arguello Kline, mented by ethnicity and race. In this way, it was born in Nicaragua and moved to Las is part of a broader, conscious, effort in Vegas in 1983, where she worked as a room hotel unions to bridge divides between work- attendant. Like Canty, she is seen as a cru- ers and build solidarity between them – in cial figure in the formulation of the contem- particular between African Americans and porary union tactics and strategies. Leaders Latinos (see Parks and Warren, 2012; Wells, like Canty and Arguello Kline have used the 2000). city’s dominant narrative of malleability and The union has also actively challenged change and turned it to their own advan- discrimination in the casinos and hotels in tage, as a largely female, immigrant popula- Las Vegas. The Culinary Union has high- tion started to exert local political and lighted and challenged the link between eth- economic power through the Culinary nicity and ill-treatment in the workplace. Union. As Canty stated in a 1996 New For example, in an on-going dispute over Yorker article: union representation between the Culinary Union and Station Casinos, the union has My house is paid for. I bought cars while I highlighted Station Casinos’ actions as par- was a maid, I bought furniture, I bought the ticularly targeting Latino workers. The things I needed for my family while I was a union’s campaign included full page adverts, maid. And the way I did it is through orga- which read ‘Station Casinos Fired Latinos’. nized labor. (Mosle, 1996) After years of anti-union harassment, the Furthermore, the Culinary Union itself union took the company to the National has been active in efforts to help immigrant Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which arbi- workers (Getman, 2010). The Union has trates on labour law. In 2011, the NLRB hosted and funded a programme to help found the company guilty on 87 separate immigrants become US citizens, providing counts of labour law infraction. The free help and advice to over 8000 immi- Culinary Union stressed that 78% of those grants (union members and nonmembers) violations involved Hispanic workers. The since 2001. The programme is a free alterna- company appealed the ruling, but lost the tive to expensive immigration lawyers and appeal in the fall of 2012. The union protests roughly ‘twenty percent of all naturalisa- continued and more than 150 Culinary tions in Nevada come through the Culinary Union workers were arrested for acts of civil Union program’ (Chandler and Jones, 2011: disobedience in 2011, and in 2012 15 work- 73). In this way, the Culinary Union has ers, mostly Latinos, staged a seven-day hun- provided a bridge for immigrants to access ger strike to highlight the vulnerability of the resources and politics of the union, the workers trying to organise (Culinary higher wages, and citizen rights. Ruth Union, 2012). The Culinary Union’s ties to Gray and DeFilippis 1693 the city’s prominent African American and spatial components at many scales. Getman Latino workforces highlights one avenue for highlights that, like many other union cam- race relations and working class agency in paigns, the Culinary’s local allies (other the nation’s shifting urban landscape. unions, politicians, progressive groups, and As this highlights, of course, the hotel community leaders) helped create moral and and resort owners have resisted the union physical community support for actions campaigns. The union’s history over the last (Getman, 2010), but it is at the national and two decades is one of periodic labour- international levels that their strategy stands management disputes – mixed in with out. extended stretches of labour-capital co-oper- One lever that the Culinary Union has ation and partnership (Getman, 2010). Las used as part of its corporate campaign is the Vegas is the site of one of the longest run- regulatory framework governing casino ning labour disputes in modern labour his- expansion. In 1957, the Nevada Supreme tory.6 Workers at the Frontier Hotel-Casino Court upheld the right of the state to investi- went on strike in 1991 when the Frontier gate potential proprietors and deny property refused to recognise the union. The dispute rights to questionable applicants. Following was in stalemate for many years and was that, in 1959, a Nevada Gaming only resolved when the hotel was sold to Commission was established as ‘the ultimate new owners six and a half years later and authority on all gaming matters’ and the new owners signed the same contract charged with issuing licences for gambling offered by the other resorts. Furthermore, (Getman, 2010: 169). As part of its compre- employer resistance is a consistent issue; as hensive corporate campaigns, the Culinary the staff director of the UNITE HERE local Union has used the regulatory apparatus of put it, ‘every casino owner thinks they’re the the Nevada Gaming Commission to apply ones that are going to stand tough against pressure on individual corporations by argu- the union’ (Mia Gray interview with T. ing against, or in support of, the extension Pappageorge, 2009). and/or renewal of gambling licences. Within Despite strong employer resistance, the this institutional arena, they have consis- Culinary Union has embraced comprehen- tently argued that good labour relations are sive corporate campaigning with an active an integral part of good corporate citizen- membership playing the major role in orga- ship. This strategy has been effective on nising. As part of this, they shifted their many scales and the Culinary has extended efforts from National Labor Relation Board this strategy to offer support conditional on (NLRB) elections to employer neutrality positive labour relations as corporations agreements and card checks, which has since with a local presence attempt to expand their become more widely used by American gambling operations into other jurisdictions unions. John Wilhelm, reflecting on his time in the US and abroad. as HERE president, said: ‘We pioneered The Culinary Union’s success in imple- card checks in Las Vegas. I believe the best menting a comprehensive corporate cam- reading of the history is that card checks paign has resulted in density rates in Class A became more prevalent in the labour move- hotels and resorts that are high enough to ment because of our extraordinary success in affect the social welfare of the entire region. Las Vegas’ (Getman, 2010: 101). Other ele- If a union can organise a large enough por- ments of the Culinary Union’s comprehen- tion of the relevant sector, wages can effec- sive campaign have focused on exploiting tively be taken out of competition. This is corporate vulnerabilities, which often have particularly important in the service sector 1694 Urban Studies 52(9)

Table 4. Union wage premium, 2012.

Las Vegas National 2012 union hourly wage hourly wage wage effect

Bartenders 14.5 9.09 37% Food preparation workers 15.08 9.28 38% Maids and housekeeping cleaners 15.05 9.41 37% Baggage porters and bellhops 12.9 9.64 25% Hotel desk clerk 15.95 9.78 39% Dining room and cafeteria attendants 12.66 8.89 30% Janitors and cleaners 14.33 10.73 25% Restaurant cooks 14.17 10.59 25% Waiting staff 10.36 8.92 14% Maintenance repairers, general utility 23.22 16.93 27%

Source: Updated version of Waddoups (2000). Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Survey, 2012. where non-union jobs often pay low wages unionised. Rogers (1990) argues that each and offer few benefits. The ‘union wage effect’ market has a tipping point where unionised in the hospitality industry in Las Vegas can employers are no longer at a disadvantage be seen in Table 4 where highly unionised vis-a` -vis the non-union competition, because occupations, such as housekeepers or desk a large proportion of their competitors are clerks earn 22% to 28% more, respectively, also organised. The general welfare effects than their non-union counterparts.7 of strong unionisation can go far beyond the Another way to view the welfare effect of union’s own membership. a strong union presence is to compare it to a Thus, the effects of a strong union pres- similar city without that union presence. ence can be seen in two ways. First, union Waddoups (2000) did this by comparing Las contracts directly affect wages, benefits, and Vegas with Reno, Nevada. Both cities are working conditions. This direct worker out- heavily reliant on the ‘gaming’ industry and come is felt by union members, additional the service sector more generally, but Reno workers covered by the contract, and often has much lower union density rates. workers employed by other regional employ- Whereas, between 1989 and 1999, the Las ers, who pay higher wages to match the Vegas hospitality industry was 36.9% union- union premium. This means a strong union ised, Reno’s was only 5.8% (Bernhardt, can affect pay in the entire industry in the 2000). Waddoups found that median wages region. in Las Vegas were 24% higher than identical Second, high union density can help occupations in the same industry in Reno structure the conditions of the industry- (Waddoups, 2000). specific local labour market. A strong union Finally, if union density is high enough, helps construct the market rules for the local the union wage effect tends to push up labour market and thus contributes to the wages in the entire industry in the region formal regulation of the industry, as well as and not just in union jobs (Belman and creates informal conventions and norms. Voos, 1993; Freeman and Medoff, 1981). For example, strong unions are able to Non-union employers must compete with negotiate around issues of work intensity, union employers and thus, offer higher training standards, and job ladders that help wages in labour markets that are highly to set the standards for the industry. Gray and DeFilippis 1695

Highlighting the ability of the union to Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, 2009). The affect these issues contributes to a counter- Academy offers vocational skills training, narrative about Las Vegas which stresses the customer service education, ‘employability agency of labour to actively produce the cul- basics’, and English language instruction to tural and economic landscape of Las Vegas. several thousand students each year. The The next section explores the Culinary Academy’s focus is on providing practical Union’s attempts to structure the Las Vegas experience by running a small restaurant and labour market by setting the standards for a catering business and through creating training. ‘real’ messes in simulated hotel rooms to train housekeepers. The Chief Operating Officer at the Academy stressed in an inter- Institution-building view that ‘housekeeping is not low skilled The Culinary Union in Las Vegas has also work. You have to clean sixteen rooms in become a model for experimenting with new eight hours. You have to make a bed in three institutional forms to set training standards minutes . This is not low skilled work’ (Mia and, at the same time, extend union member- Gray interview with M. Ford, Culinary ship. The lack of formal training is a chronic Academy of Las Vegas, 2009). Thus, the problem for workers in many low-end ser- joint provision of training gets around many vice occupations. It promotes segmented of the problems with free-riding and poach- labour markets and encourages employers to ing for employers and, importantly, allows structure jobs that only require low levels of the union to set industry standards around skill. Yet the fear of labour poaching and the levels of training and definitions of skills. free-rider problem lead employers to continu- The success of the partnership between the ally under-invest in non-firm-specific train- Culinary Union and the local industry in cre- ing. Although the union’s relationship with ating and sustaining the Culinary Training casino employers has often been adversarial, Academy reinforces Rogers’ arguments that both employers and unions have a vested high rates of union density can create incen- interest in promoting a well-trained work- tives for employers to ‘cooperate in the main- force (Perrett et al., 2012). tenance or even extension of unionisation’ In response to the problem of chronic (Rogers, 1990: 7). under-provision of training, the union has Rogers (1990) also highlights how high created the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, rates of union density allows unions to pur- a training centre for workers in the industry. sue a broader, political, agenda rather than a In 1993 the union negotiated a multi- narrow economic one. In Las Vegas, the employer training fund, one of the first in the Culinary Training Academy combines ele- service sector, to provide a jointly governed ments of both community and union organis- training programme in all of the culinary ing and is an important part of the union’s trades in Las Vegas.8 Additionally, the pro- local community development efforts. This is gramme works together with the industry’s an example of what Perrett et al. (2012) argue hiring hall, so those graduates are first in line is increasingly fundamental to many unions – for new job openings at the hotels and casi- broad-based learning which extends the nos (Bernhardt et al., 2003). The Academy is union’s influence beyond the workplace and the largest training facility in Nevada. The into the community. The Academy’s COO programme is funded by employers at $2 explained, ‘we have a gigantic outreach pro- million annually and has trained over 35,000 gramme, particularly to African Americans workers (Mia Gray interview with M. Ford, and Asians. It’s a big priority for us and the 1696 Urban Studies 52(9)

Culinary Academy is a big part of that’ (Mia positions. The ultimate goal is to allow Gray interview with M. Ford, Culinary front-line workers to create a career in the Academy of Las Vegas, 2009). The Academy industry by promoting new job ladders is located in a majority African American, (within the industry if not the firm). For low-income neighbourhood in Las Vegas to example, the Academy allows a kitchen increase accessibility and to encourage low- worker to train as a fry cook, or a wine ser- income workers and the unemployed to par- ver to train as a sommelier. This opportu- ticipate in the programme. Through the nity, argues Executive Chef, Sterling Burpee, Academy, many unemployed or underem- in an interesting adaptation of the postmo- ployed local residents have trained for entry dern narrative of Las Vegas, ‘allows workers level positions in the past five years and have to reinvent themselves through training’ found their way into the industry and often, (Mia Gray interview with S. Burpee, at the same time, into the union. As part of Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, 2009). In this effort, in 2001, the training programme this, the goal is for the Academy to function was expanded by merging with Nevada as a mechanism to create internal labour Partners, a state-funded programme that pre- markets for workers to advance. As such, pares people entering the workforce. the training allows the union to partially Although the State funds are separate, the structure and regulate these occupations by increased total budget allows the Academy to setting skill norms and conventions as well train roughly 1000 additional people directly as allows the workers access to the occupa- from the community. This brings together tions by training them in the same norms the labour movement with local economic and conventions. Crucially, this approach development efforts. reinforces Lloyd and Mayhew’s (2010) point The Academy has done well in the usual that it is not only the level of education and indicators of success. Its graduation rates training that is the key determinant in reduc- are unusually high. Pam Egan, the Chief ing the size of the low paid workforce, but Financial Officer of the Culinary Academy, the role played by pay setting institutions. estimates that the programme has a 75% graduation rate, which compares favourably to the national rate of 25% (Mia Gray inter- Las Vegas as growth coalition view with P. Egan, Culinary Academy of The explicitly spatial organising strategies of Las Vegas, 2009). The Culinary Union’s HERE raises important questions of place, Secretary-Treasurer attributes this high gra- space and the politics of growth in Las duation rate to the strong links between the Vegas and in trade union organising in the training and the job. ‘We train workers hospitality and tourism sectors. Despite the where the jobs exist. The casinos help – the history of labour conflict in Las Vegas, over casinos get what they want. But it’s also in the last 10 to 15 years there has emerged a tune with the needs of the workers. That’s period of relative worker-management and why it works’ (Mia Gray interview with D. union/casino cooperation. This co-operative Taylor, 2009). relationship has certainly benefitted from the The Academy is important within the growth of the city and the ‘gaming’ industry. industry as it not only trains newcomers but, Additionally, the union’s international helps perhaps more unusual in the industry, exist- to promote this relationship. This is particu- ing workers too. The programme is expand- larly true under John Wilhelm, who was the ing its services to help existing workers train Culinary’s chief negotiator, and became gen- in order to move into better-paying eral secretary of HERE. Wilhelm rather Gray and DeFilippis 1697 famously negotiated the end of the six-year significant role on the National Gambling and four-month strike at the Frontier Hotel Impact Study Commission, which called for mentioned above, which had involved five a moratorium on all further legalisation of separate unions and was resolved when the gambling. This moratorium would, in effect, local family owners sold the hotel/casino to codify the oligopoly of those places where an outside businessman. gambling is legal, with Las Vegas obviously This cooperative relationship between the realising a disproportionate amount of the unions and casino owners has been furth- future oligopoly-based profits. ered by the union playing an active role in By playing such an active role in the the local growth coalition, with Wilhelm growth politics of Las Vegas – often to the himself often acting as a spokesperson for exclusion of other people and places – the the gaming industry. Las Vegas’s local gov- unions are, in effect, reproducing at the local ernment and urban politics are dominated scale the old national scale labour-capital by pro-growth interests, and at the heart of framework which dominated labour rela- these interests are those of the gaming indus- tions in the US from World War II to the try – although its dominance in local politics 1980s. But this cooperative, localised form of has certainly been increasingly challenged in the state-capital-labour is also different in recent years by the emergence of real estate that the capital involved is but a localised developers and, to a lesser extent, the large component of the much larger trans-national senior citizen population in the city (see corporations that own most of the casinos Gottdiener et al., 1999). The depth of the and, particularly, resorts. Ever since Howard 2007–2009 recession, which hit Las Vegas Hughes began buying casinos in the late particularly hard, also prompted a discus- 1960s, Las Vegas casinos have increasingly sion within the state of Nevada on the need gone from being locally-owned, if largely to diversify the state’s and city’s economy constructed through the pension funds of the (see Brookings Institution, 2011; Teamsters Union, to being owned by trans- Nagourney, 2013). In the face of these real national and multi-national corporations and potential threats, the unions have been (i.e. MGM and ITT). Despite their global fighting alongside the casino owners to pro- reach, the uniqueness of Las Vegas as a place tect the interests of the gaming industry in and space has meant that these corporations the city. For instance, the unions have lob- have had to involve themselves more in local bied extensively at the federal level to get the politics than is often the case in global cor- federal government to finance an expansion porations that are more spatially mobile. of Interstate 15, which connects Las Vegas The relative exceptionalism of Las Vegas, to Los Angeles, and is a key component of and the importance of processes such as the city’s tourist market. The unions also ‘place marketing’ in the city have actually, worked unsuccessfully to fight the passage therefore, both forced the global corpora- of Proposition 5 in California in 1998, which tions to be locally involved, and have made it easier for gambling to occur on enabled local union organising to be more Indian reservations in that state. The unions successful. As we’ve already suggested, due stated that their opposition to Prop. 5 was to the success of the ‘place marketing’ of Las based on the fact that the reservations were Vegas as a city, the threat of mobility of cap- not prepared to protect the rights of workers ital is greatly reduced, since, for all intents to organise. This claim, however, was belied and purposes, there is not a possibility of by the fact that at the same time this lobby- leaving Las Vegas. Place marketing, which is ing was going on, Wilhelm was playing a normally thought of as a process which 1698 Urban Studies 52(9) undercuts class politics and replaces it with places. The space-based power of global place-based local politics, is actually a pro- capital is therefore severely, and ironically, cess which, when it is successful, can enable tempered by the success of place marketing trade union organising to flourish and and place dependence. develop. Certainly this union organising will be in the context of place-based politics. But, as the Las Vegas example demonstrates, it is Learning from Las Vegas far from clear that place-based and class- For decades, Las Vegas has been celebrated based politics are mutually exclusive. for its postmodern landscape – its embrace of The success of place marketing in Las facade, symbols, malleability, and fragmenta- Vegas and the production of the image of tion. But that landscape, like all landscapes, Las Vegas as a relatively unique space for is a product of human labour. Far from rep- adult-based recreation and consumption has resenting its antithesis, the organisational created a context in which capital is place and spatial strategies of organised labour in dependent. Place dependence, as it has been Las Vegas display a deep understanding of theorised by Cox and his colleagues (Cox, the relationship between fragmentation and 1995; Cox and Mair, 1988), is a situation in malleability of the postmodern environment. which social relations, usually those associ- Crucially, by confronting the postmodern ated with the accumulation of capital, are elements of precarious work, fractured cor- bound to a place and in which there is a lack porate structures, and institutional form, of spatial substitutability. Las Vegas is cer- organised labour in Las Vegas has been able tainly such a context. Simply put, the casi- to utilise the malleability of the industry to nos, hotels, and mega-resorts are anchored reshape the local political economy. in place. They cannot flee unionisation by Questions of what we should learn from Las moving their operations elsewhere, if they Vegas can actually therefore be transformed want to retain their market share. Such from issues of consumption and signs and locally dependent industries are easier to symbolism to issues of trade union organis- unionise because the threat of capital mobi- ing and institutional structures in the post- lity is simply not credible; and such a threat industrial economy. Because in one basic can often be debilitating to worker organis- way the ‘normalisation’ of Las Vegas is ing (see, for instance, Bronfenbrenner, 1996, occurring, as the manufacturing sector con- 1997). And while Las Vegas is certainly tinues to decline as a component of the unique, this applies to many other locales American economy, and the service sectors with strong place-based attractions. New continue to grow. What, therefore, we can York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San learn from Las Vegas is how to successfully Francisco, Boston and many other cities in organise service sector workers. the United States (and around the world) The use of new institutional forms, orga- possess tourist attractions that are unique nising strategies, and a long term commit- and place-based. Mobility of the hotels in ment to organising new workers have all those metropolitan areas to other places is yielded a situation in Las Vegas where union simply not a viable threat that can be used density rates are high and so are workers’ to undercut trade union organising or public wages. This is even more striking because it support for that organising. The result is has occurred in the service sector, in a con- that there is a potential transformation in servative ‘right to work’ state, with a dispro- the relations between global capital and portionate number of women and people of other actors, such as unions, that constitute colour. Gray and DeFilippis 1699

The success of UNITE HERE in Las counter narrative of the City which stresses Vegas has been dependent upon not just the political economy of the city remains an achieving a union presence, but obtaining a important task. This, ultimately, is the most minimum union density in the industry. The important set of lessons for us to be learning high rate of unionisation in the hospitality from Las Vegas. industry has given the union strength to bar- gain for institutional innovations, such as Funding the Culinary Academy, in addition to issues This research received no specific grant from any of wages, benefits, and workloads. But, repli- funding agency in the public, commercial, or not- cating their successes in other areas and for-profit sectors. other industries depends upon reaching a high level of union density. This, effectively, Notes takes wages out of competition and forces 1. Of course, one could argue that the story of employers to compete on other factors, such the strength of the labour movement in Los as amenities and service. Angeles is also under-discussed relative to Additionally, the Culinary Union’s suc- other components of the urbanisation process cess shows the importance of controlling the in that city (see Voss and Fantasia, 2004). institutions that, formally or informally, set 2. All information in this section is from inter- standards or norms within the industry and views with officials at the UNITE HERE thus structure the local labour market. The local 226, the Culinary Union, and the Culinary Academy not only helps determine Culinary Academy in Las Vegas, unless oth- erwise stated. the supply of trained labour, but also helps 3. HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant set industry norms surrounding labour qual- Employees International Union) and UNITE ity. At the same time, this type of institution (formerly the Union of Needletrades, can help recruit new members, form links Industrial, and Textile Employees) merged to with the community, and can be a part of create UNITE HERE in 2004 (see Getman, larger organising strategies. 2010). The success of unions, such as the 4. D. Taylor served as Staff Director of the Culinary Union, in Las Vegas allows work- Culinary Union from 1990 to 2002 and ers in the service sector to do very well com- Secretary Treasurer from 2002 to 2012. He is now President of the parent union, UNITE pared to their peers in other cities in Nevada HERE. Since his election, he has pledged ‘to and nationwide. Even more remarkable, Las develop leadership among young people and Vegas provides a model whereby unskilled people of colour, and to expand the success and semi-skilled workers, many of them of the union in Las Vegas to hospitality women of colour, in the service sector are workers elsewhere’ (UNITE HERE, 2013). able to make a secure middle class income. Taylor’s new role is seen by many as expli- In this way it is reminiscent of the political citly spreading the lessons learned from the economy of the height of the Fordist era, but Las Vegas model. with different workers who are employed in 5. See Freeman and Medoff (1984) for empirical quintessentially post-industrial work. Thus, evidence that unionisation lowers turnover. 6. The longest strike in the US was the United it provides a new model of union organising Auto Workers strike against Kohler Co. in in the post-industrial economy. None of Sheboygan, WI. It ran from April 1954 to these ‘lessons’ are visible through the post- October 1962. modern, consumer-based, narrative sur- 7. Notably, Las Vegas workers who are ‘amuse- rounding Las Vegas which erase the city’s ment and recreation attendants’ make almost social history. Actively constructing a exactly the national average for their 1700 Urban Studies 52(9)

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