Cover
story Unions take on role of training for new jobs
By ARTHUR JONES
NCR Staff Las Vegas
Theyre anonymous, yet
everywhere in large hotels. You know them by their carts in the corridor with
its fresh supply of linens and little shampoos and soaps that clog the bathroom
medicine cabinets of frequent travelers.
Maids -- officially known as GRAs -- guest room attendants, the
entry-level workers in the hospitality industry. Whod want it? Nina
McKnight and Suzanne Tastad, for two. Thats why they were at the Culinary
Union Training Center for a two-week training course here earlier this year,
along with Paul Shaw who was training to be a houseperson.
McKnight, a single mother of two, had come to Las Vegas two weeks
earlier from California because shed heard there were jobs in the casino
industry. She saw the job training advertised on a building near where she
lived, and went to the Culinary Union to see what it was about.
With the training program behind her, McKnight landed a job at
almost twice the minimum wage, plus benefits, including health care for the
children.
A way to move up
More than that, McKnight, a high school graduate, said that
although shell be starting at the bottom of the job ladder, it
doesnt mean shell remain there. You can move up if
youve got the right mindset, she said. Just like the training
wasnt hard if you had the right mindset.
Nina did real well in the program, said Bernice
Thomas, training director at the center, which is supported by the Southern
Nevada Joint Management Culinary and Bartenders Training Fund, whose board
includes both casino and union officials. Last year the center trained more
than 2,400 workers, said executive director Mark Solomon. That number includes
a variety of workers, among them 600 kitchen workers, 54 fry cooks, 79 porters
and 763 GRAs.
The first thing the training gives is self-esteem -- that
they can do the job, Thomas said. We tell them how theyre
going to benefit coming through program. Theyll know the basics so they
wont be flustered. Many trainees are coming off welfare, some from
part-time or minimum wage jobs, she said.
Most have children. Thomas said she likes them to know how to
start out at an entry level job well, because, she said, if they want they can
work their way up to be director or whatever they set their goals
on.
For six months theyll work at 80 percent of $11-plus an
hour, and after their probation, get the full rate. The $32.50 a month union
dues covers medical benefits and, after five years, participation in a pension
plan. Meanwhile theyre in a job, Thomas said, with paid public holidays
and vacations.
And right now theres a demand for housekeepers.
Weve been having 20 to 25 people in the programs, Thomas said.
But were not just teaching them cleaning. But safety, how to be
professional in the job, hygiene, life skills -- the whole package of what they
have to do and what their employer is expecting of them.
Suzanne Tastad, 19, who came to Las Vegas from California six
months earlier, said, This is good pay, better than the $5.25 minimum
wage. She had a job lined up when her GRA course was completed -- a day
job so she can get her high school diploma at night. Then she wants to go to
college. I can save money this way, she said.
Paul Shaw, 40, had been working in the construction industry for
years when he heard of the houseperson training program through a friend. In
the two-week training, he learned how to transport linen to the GRAs, how to
keep things clean and wipe them down.
The job promises a lot of security, said Shaw, who has
children. In construction you might work four months, then get laid off.
This job Im being trained for promises a lot. The pay is equal to
construction. To me, once Im inside, Ill be up the ladder quicker
because of the training.
It isnt just hotel training that the unions offer in Las
Vegas. A notice board near Jim Salas office in the Carpenters Union
hall advises construction workers with experience that training opportunities
are available to help them become drywallers and carpenters.
Sala, who years ago worked quite a few jobs that were
non-union before I had a chance to join the carpenters union, explains
building trades unions and job changes this way: The building trades were
a modified version of (the old medieval ) guild system, trying to hold on to
the traditions of the past and ignoring the realities of the way the market has
changed in regard to the contractors. The contractors are so mobile, and the
technology has changed enough, its a much more rapid pace than
traditional carpentry.
Training for additional skills
The contractor doesnt want the traditional carpenter
who can take the job from the foundations to the finish, said Sala,
now there are contractors who do nothing but hang doors. They want a guy
trained to hang doors. They dont care if the guy can run ceiling tiles,
because theyre never going to do that.
Union training, says Sala, gives workers additional skills. Las
Vegas is a mecca for another sort of training -- developing union organizers.
There were 18 going through the program the week NCR was in town.
Is there a dearth of organizers? Very much so, said
Bob Ozinga, Building Trades Organizing Project director. No dearth of
people with the title organizer, but a dearth of people trained in the
type of organizing weve performed in Las Vegas --organizers centered on
activating and moving workers around their own issues -- people who can do that
10 and 12 hours a day, six and seven days a week.
As Las Vegas has shown, thats the organizing that works.
National Catholic Reporter, September 3,
1999
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