Jun. 11--Union negotiators and Stratosphere executives reached a tentative contract agreement Monday after a two-hour negotiating session, union officials said. 

The five-year deal mirrors contracts Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 already made with major Strip operators. 

"We want to applaud the Stratosphere for reaching an agreement," said Glen Arnodo, Culinary political director. "With every settlement we get, it becomes clear that the downtown properties have the ability to settle if they choose." 

The pact must still be approved by Stratosphere's 1,270 union maids, food-service workers and bartenders. No ratification vote date has been set. 

Stratosphere executives declined to comment Monday evening, citing company policy against discussing labor negotiations. 

Meanwhile, union officials and downtown casino representatives continued to talk tough Monday despite a looming July 1 strike deadline, as each side's representatives called on the other side to back down from stubbornly held positions. 

The casino operators' lawyers say their client properties can't afford new health-care costs included in five-year contracts union members recently OK'd with major Strip operators, while downtown union members and their leaders say they'll strike before accepting a second-rate health plan. 

"They have to compromise," Castaways lawyer Sal Gugino said of the union. Terms of the Strip deal would cost his property an extra $9.5 million over the next five years, money Gugino said the Castaways doesn't have. 

"The union needs to look at this in a rational manner," Gugino said, noting that his property competes in the almost entirely nonunion Boulder Highway casino market. "In some positions the Castaways already pays $3 an hour more than their Boulder Highway competitors." 

The Strip deal would cost the Castaways another $3.23 1/2 per hour worked by the fifth year of a pact. 

"We'd be paying more than $6 per hour more than our competitors," Gugino said. "We can only pay what is reasonable and what we can afford. We don't have the money, and the union's insistence that we pay as much as the megaresorts is not reasonable. They're asking us to take the impossible and absorb it." 

Gugino and downtown casino lawyer Gregg Kamer plan Friday to submit concrete contract proposals to union leaders. Both said that enrolling the union workers in their property plans would be part of their proposals. 

"The negotiating committees have already unanimously rejected that proposal," Culinary Workers Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said. "We've been very clear about our issues, and very clear that the downtown workers want the same health plan." 

Taylor said the properties without contracts have been advised that the current contract extension until midnight June 30 is the last extension the unions will grant. 

Kamer said a Friday negotiating session at Culinary offices went badly, with the size of the nearly 200 strong union negotiating committee helping to create a poor atmosphere for compromise. 

"It was more of a political rally than a negotiation session," he said, suggesting that each side bring only 25 people to the next meeting. 

Kamer represents the Plaza, El Cortez, Las Vegas Club, Western, Binion's Horseshoe, Fitzgeralds and the Four Queens. 

"I understand the unions' position," Kamer said. " I wish they'd try to understand mine." 

Taylor said he'd never before been involved in a negotiation process where management had yet to make a formal contract offer after three negotiation sessions. 

Economic terms of the Strip contract deals will cost MGM Mirage, Mandalay Resort Group, Park Place Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment and the Tropicana an estimated $650 million more than their old deal, with most of the new company contributions funding the unions' health care plans. 

The Riviera on Wednesday reached a tentative deal with the same economic terms as the major Strip operators, but a ratification vote has yet to be scheduled. 

The remaining downtown properties without contracts are Main Street Station, Fremont and Golden Gate. 

Also without a new contract are the Stardust, Sahara, Barbary Coast and Jerry's Nugget. 

Plaza housekeeper Charese Robinson explained why she wants to remain covered by the union plan, emphasizing the difficult work she does. 

"They say they can't afford to pay for our health care plan," Robinson said. "If there's no business, then why am I cleaning 17 rooms a day? And these rooms are trashed. It's a disaster area in there." 

She said the health care plans provided by downtown casinos to their nonunion employees are too expensive and have inferior coverage. 

Randy Springer, a nonunion Binion's Horseshoe dealer, had a different take on the Culinary demands. 

"They ought to let them strike," Springer said as he walked outside the Horseshoe on a break. "They don't need a union." 

Kamer said downtown operators are waiting until the last possible minute before beginning to recruit for replacement workers. 

He said newspaper classified ads seeking job applicants would likely be placed in the next week or two. 

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