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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Union & Tropicana Fight It out in Public

LAS VEGAS (CN) - The Tropicana Hotel & Casino's fight with a labor union has taken a strange twist, with the hotel asking a judge to order the union to stop projecting enormous slides onto its white walls.

The Tropicana calls it "projection bombing," in its March 5 lawsuit against the Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local 88, in Clark County Court.

The union submitted a bid for a job in January, but the general contractor gave the work to a nonunion subcontractor, the Tropicana says in the complaint.

The union responded with a "Dirty Tropicana" projection bombing campaign, which the Tropicana calls a "type of guerilla-marketing tactic whereby a person or group uses a powerful, mobile video projector to project giant images or words onto buildings and other structures."

The union "projected [a] 10-foot by 10-foot neon green image onto various prominent and highly visible parts of Tropicana's buildings, effectively taking control of the physical space on which the image is placed for over an hour," the complaint states.

It adds: "The projection images included the following message: 'Where are you sleeping? Health inspectors REPEATEDLY found bodily fluid stains on the bed linens here.' However, the focus of the instant complaint is not the content of the message; rather, Tropicana solely seeks relief from defendant's illegal control and use of Tropicana's property."

The casino claims that the enormous slides caused the Tropicana to "run afoul of Clark County ordinances regarding limitations on signage, exposing Tropicana to potential fines."

It claims that the union disrupted its business and that guests complained about the images.

The Tropicana seeks a restraining order and injunction, and damages for conversion, trespassing, malicious mischief and nuisances.

An official for Local 88 refused to comment on the matter.

Officials for the Tropicana did not return a call seeking comment.

It's the second such lawsuit Tropicana has filed against a Las Vegas union local. It sued the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 15 in March 2014 for the same thing.

The Tropicana voluntarily dismissed that complaint without prejudice on Sept. 3, 2014.

The Tropicana is represented by Anthony Martin with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart.

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