This coziness could not ease the tension that always existed between worker and management. Local history is peppered with strikes, with one of the largest occurring in 1984 when hotel workers throughout the city walked off their jobs. Casinos remained opened by hiring UNLV hotel management majors as scabs, but they ultimately signed union contracts. Crossing the unions became an invitation for trouble. A truce was struck on the Strip, signed by all but the Frontier and Imperial Palace.
People have a right to make as much money as they can, but they have to pay the working people.
Las Vegas union members' struggles on behalf of the working class is a proud heritage passed down through the generations. Son has replaced mother on the picket line. The unions' belief that the conditions that determine people's lives are within their control have enabled them to set the national work standard in the service industry. The National Labor Relations Board last month ruled that the Frontier could not permanently replace the striking workers, and earlier, appeals courts ordered the casino to pay back millions of dollars in lost wages and pension benefits. So it is strange to hear employees, who have waged labor's longest-running strike on one of America's busiest streets, complain that their efforts go unnoticed.