Organizing

National Catholic Reporter, Sept 3, 1999 by Arthur Jones

"And second, because we always have lots of fights, it never allows us to be complacent, to feel like we're legitimized. We always have an edge to us. Like anything, if you allow the non-union to grow, stuff [such as workers being able to buy their own homes] gets eradicated. That's why we're always organizing, fighting."

Successful or not, it's lonely being the only service sector union in town. That has changed. The SEIU did more than hold their convention and support someone else's strike in Las Vegas. They came back to organize. Today, they've turned the local health care industry into a majority union industry with 4,700 members in the major local hospitals and a further 1,500 members in city government.

Economically, Las Vegas is still booming. The never-ending stream of tour buses with the next load of slot-players is fueling it. But it is people like Nina McKnight, mother of two, who fuel the union boom. In May McKnight left California for Las Vegas to find work. Two weeks later she was in the Culinary Union's two-week housekeeper training program. Two weeks after that came the job -- benefits and all.