Clanebach, Inc. v. Las Vegas Local Joint Executive Board of Culinary Workers and Bartenders, Etc.

Appellants, respondents below, appeal from a district court order compelling arbitration of a dispute arising out of a 1964 collective bargaining agreement.

Appellants are gambling clubs in Las Vegas, Nevada, commonly known as downtown clubs, as distinguished from the larger hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. Appellees are two unions which represent a substantial number of the employees in both the downtown clubs and Strip hotels. Appellants and appellees were party to a collective bargaining agreement which took effect on April 1, 1964. The provision of the contract which led to this case is paragraph six of section 2(e), which provision reads as follows:

Employees commonly referred- to as change girls and booth cashiers were not specifically classified in the 1964 agreement. Appellees contend that section 2 (e) required appellants to bargain to establish comparable wage rates for those employees. Appellants contend that section 2(e), when read in conjunction with section 1 of the agreement, is not susceptible of the interpretation which ap-pellees attach to it. When appellants refused to negotiate rates, appellees petitioned the district court for an order compelling arbitration…