Las Vegas mayor on possible strike of union casino workers

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Las Vegas mayor on possible strike of union casino workers

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman joins 'Your World' to explain why up to 50,000 unionized casino workers are threatening to go on strike.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," May 31, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: You know, anything is possible in Las Vegas, but the city of the heat right now has a team in the Stanley Cup. So that alone is amazing. So we will see how those battles go back and forth, last night, not so much.

But in the middle of all of that, a possible casino workers strike that could affect upwards of 50,000.

The latest on all this with Las Vegas independent Mayor Carolyn Goodman.

Mayor, very good to have you here. Thanks for coming.

CAROLYN GOODMAN, MAYOR OF LAS VEGAS: Oh, thanks, Neil. It's good to hear your voice again.

CAVUTO: All right, same here.

Let me ask you a little bit about some of these casinos and unions negotiating these pay raises for workers, because the timing couldn't be worse. How likely do you think a strike is? This is the time of year where interest in Vegas, to say nothing of hockey, pops inexorably.

So, what is going on?

GOODMAN: Well, you know, as you so well know, this is the entertainment capital.

So, I think it will settle. I'm not quite sure what the numbers are going to be. It's a five-year contract. I do believe hopefully the hotels will work with the union employees to give them some type of technological training. That's very important to them in this issue. But I don't think it's going to happen.

Our last major culinary strike was in 1984, when we were a town of less than 500,000. Now we're 2.3 million, with 43 million visitors coming into town every year. So I think it will settle.

CAVUTO: What I guess it would be, if it were to come to fruition, we could be days away from the first, you know, citywide strike in decades.

How likely do you think that is?

GOODMAN: You know, I really -- because we depend for everything that we do here on the diversity of our community and on the comradery of everybody that lives here, I think it will settle.

I'm not quite sure on the numbers, because, of course, I haven't been included in them. We have two major players, MGM Resorts, of course, and Caesar's Entertainment, that together probably own more than a dozen of the resort properties.

And so, you know, these are the people that live here. And I feel for them and understand and believe in their asks, but then again, too, this is their hometown and we have got to get things going. This is a popular place to be right now.

CAVUTO: No, obviously.

Mayor, that's something I was going to ask you as well. It's also a place that's seen a big economic turnaround. And a lot of people are surprised, particularly after the shooting last year, that whether the town would right itself again. It clearly has.

But I'm wondering whether something like this, just hearing about it, chases individuals away or they start thinking, well, maybe not Vegas right now.

GOODMAN: You know, it's one individual. We're seeing it all over the world. We're seeing it all over the country. And it's like trying to put your finger in a dam to stop the water from coming through. It's going to pop out somewhere else.

You just can't imagine who has got the sickness that they have or wants notoriety, whatever is causing it. These are individual people that really are creating a problem for people who just want to live and have their normal life.

But these are issues, and absolutely not here in Las Vegas. I think we know, we -- certainly, it was a tragedy.

CAVUTO: Right.

GOODMAN: And I think there's sort of an ethereal spirit now through our Vegas Golden Knights. It's sort of been galvanizing and pulling everybody back up.

CAVUTO: Now we're learning that the shooter in that particular incident, Mayor, was telling folks what he was planning to do and we're sort of piecing together -- this wouldn't be the first shooter who was telegraphing his intentions. But what do you make of all that?

GOODMAN: Well, you know, I'm looking at the students, these students around the country. And whether they have been bullied or they're a bully or they're a dropout, a lot of this is all about the media attention.

And during that tragic time, which we continue to deal with, I have yet to mention the shooter's name here or have anything to say about him, because it's about the 58 people we lost, all of those people who were wounded, the wonderful first-responders, and about life as it is today.

Something has to be done. The family needs to be fixed. Young people need to learn how to tolerate each other and identify for help who students who seem to be having problems. We need to galvanize and get young people involved. It's not about the guns. It's really about these young people who have issues and don't know how to handle it because they don't know how to talk with each other anymore.

And a lot of it has to do with that their fingers are doing all the talking.

CAVUTO: Yes, there could be a lot to that.

You know, Mayor, has the city changed or are people now more leery of outdoor Vegas events post this incident, that there are very few of them that people seek out now and fewer even offered now in your city?

GOODMAN: Well, you know, I think what we have done out on the Strip, we have put up these bollards for people who are in cars. You see that all over the world too, these cars taking out people.

CAVUTO: Right.

GOODMAN: So it's not one incident.

And as I have told the Conference of mayors again and again, it's not when-- I mean, it's not if something is going to happen. You need to be prepared. And you need to have funds available so you can appropriately attend to whatever is happening in your community.

But we need every one of us. We need every child. We need parents to start parenting again and really keep an eye on their children and really understand where they are. And then if -- as metro law enforcement everywhere says, see something, say something.

And you don't want to castigate kids and people. You just want to make this work and get us back where we belong. And this community has been simply phenomenal. This is a family of people who live in Southern Nevada that are so strong and so dedicated to each other.

And I think it's just done nothing but pull us together. And it's wonderful, as I mentioned before, to have something as fabulous as a new franchise in the finals of the Stanley Cup.

CAVUTO: In one of the hottest cities, I mean, actually physically hot cities, and then a hockey team that is thriving like this. It's amazing.

GOODMAN: Yes.

CAVUTO: Mayor, thank you very, very much. Very good seeing you.

GOODMAN: Thank you so much for having us.

CAVUTO: All right.

END

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