Culinary Union begins contract negotiations for 50,000 Las Vegas workers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, February 19, 2018

Media Contact: 
Bethany Khan ▪ BKhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088 

Culinary Union begins contract negotiations for 50,000 Las Vegas workers

Deadline for contract negotiations: June 1, 2018

Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary and Bartenders Unions will begin contract negotiations this week for 50,000 workers on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. The deadline to complete negotiations is midnight on Friday, June 1, 2018.

Negotiations between the unions and the casino resorts are closed sessions, but periodically there will be media availability with workers. The Unions will be negotiating a host of proposals including: protecting pension and health benefits, good wage increases that reflect increased industry profits, language regarding increased technology and the effects automation has on jobs and workers, strong protections for worker safety including safety buttons and language protecting against sexual harassment and gender discrimination, and proposals for non-union restaurant and arena workers to become union.

The Culinary and Bartenders Unions are encouraging Nevada locals, elected officials, political candidates, and tourists to support workers by patronizing hotels and casinos not under a labor dispute.

The Culinary Union, Nevada’s largest union, has launched www.VegasTravelAlert.org, a website intended as a service for meeting and convention planners and all other travelers who need to know whether labor disputes could affect their plans in Las Vegas. The website will be updated with information about actual and potential labor disputes affecting Las Vegas casinos. Visitors to the site may sign up for email updates as well as find strategies to protect their event or travel plans from the possibility of being impacted by labor disputes.

Labor contracts for the following 34 casino resorts expire midnight on June 1, 2018. After that date, labor disputes, including strikes are possible:

Las Vegas Strip

Caesars Entertainment Corporation:

MGM Resorts International:

Other Strip properties:

Downtown Las Vegas

The following properties’ collective bargaining agreements are NOT expiring on June 1, 2018:

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ABOUT THE CULINARY UNION:
Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent over 57,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of the casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. UNITE HERE represents 270,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America. 

The Culinary Union, through the Culinary Health Fund, is one of the largest healthcare consumers in the state. The Culinary Health Fund is sponsored by the Culinary Union and Las Vegas-area employers. It provides health insurance coverage for over 143,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members and their dependents.

The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest immigrant organization with over 57,000 members - a diverse membership that is approximately 55% women and 54% Latino. Members - who work as guest room attendants, bartenders, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, and kitchen workers - come from 173 countries and speak over 40 different languages. The Culinary Union has been fighting for fair wages, job security, and good health benefits for working men and women in Nevada for 83 years.

CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226

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