Las Vegas Culinary Union Local 226 took to the city's most famous street, the Las Vegas Strip, on Oct. 25 to make a statement in their fight for a new contract.
The union, which has used the slogan "One job should be enough" has authorization from its members to strike. Nearly all (95%) of the service workers represented by the union gave its leadership permission to call for a strike on their behalf.
Of the union's 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada, 53,000 are based in Las Vegas. About 40,000 of those members work at casinos operated by MGM Resorts International (MGM) -), Caesars Entertainment, and Wynn Resorts. Those workers have not had a contract since Sept. 15 giving them the legal right to strike.
The union has been very clear that it not only has permission to strike, it's ready to do so.
“If these gaming companies don’t come to an agreement, the workers have spoken and we will be ready to do whatever it takes — up to and including a strike. Workers brought every single one of these companies through the pandemic and into a great recovery, and workers deserve a fair share. Companies are doing extremely well and we are demanding that workers aren’t left behind,” Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a media statement.
The union has not called for a strike yet — it's more likely to do so in November, closer to the Formula 1 (F1) race which should bring record crowds to the city. It did, however, hold a protest Oct. 25 where thousands of workers closed down a stretch of the Las Vegas Strip.
"Protestors stopped rush-hour vehicles in both directions on the famous thoroughfare for about a half-hour near the Paris Las Vegas and Bellagio casinos," Casino.org reported.
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A strike could devastate the Las Vegas Strip
After an initial period of peaceful protest, dozens of union members walked into the center of the Las Vegas Strip to form two circles to block traffic. Police waited a couple of minutes before beginning to arrest 74 protestors. The arrested union members were loaded into a police bus and brought to a police station for processing,
The arrested union members were all charged with a minor misdemeanor, "assembling to disturb the peace."
Union leaders said the union would cover any legal fees or fines for the arrested workers.
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Symbolically, the union's brief demonstration showed the power they have to disrupt the city ahead of a stretch of major events. In addition to the F1 race in November, the massive CES convention takes place in January, and the Super Bowl takes over the Las Vegas Strip in February.
Pappageorge was one of the people arrested at the protest.
“They are willing to do whatever it takes, including nonviolent civil disobedience. They are willing to get arrested to fight for their contract and fight for their families. We think that is something that the public will support,” Pappageorge said,
Here's what the union wants
The Culinary Union has the ability to cripple Caesars, Wynn, MGM, and the rest of the Las Vegas Strip casino operators during any of the upcoming major events. Even without a strike the city will be pushed to its limits as hotels are sold out and restaurants are largely fully booked well ahead of all three major events.
A strike would make the Las Vegas Strip a very unpleasant place as there would be nobody to clean hotel rooms, serve food, or pour the drinks, which can sometimes make people overlook other problems.
The unions and the resort casinos are in active negotiations.
Union contracts have expired with eight of the MGM Resorts properties, each of the Caesars Entertainment properties, and Wynn/Encore Resorts adding up to 22 casino resort properties on the Las Vegas Strip among those employers, according to the union.
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In its negotiations, the union has asked for the following things (among others):
- The largest wage increase ever negotiated in the history of the Culinary Union.
- Reducing workload and steep housekeeping room quotas, mandating daily room cleaning, and establishing the right for guest room attendants to securely work in set areas.
- Providing the best on-the-job safety protections for all classifications, including safety committees, expanding the use of safety buttons to more workers, penalties if safety buttons don’t work, enforcing mandatory room checks for employee and public safety, and tracking sexual harassment, assault, and criminal behavior by customers.
While the actual race takes place on Nov. 19, Formula 1 is expected to take over the entire city for much of the week leading up to it..
