FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Culinary Union Says Buyers Beware: Amidst Growing Labor Dispute, A Fair Process and Worker Retention at Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas are Hot Issues
Media Contact:
Culinary Union: Bethany Khan ▪ BKhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 is gearing up to demand a fair process that will assure an opportunity for the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas’ housekeepers, food servers, cooks, and other non-union workers to decide whether they want union representation in an atmosphere that is free from management pressure tactics. Workers says that job retention is a critical concern to them in the event the property’s owner, Brookfield Asset Management, sells the property.
“Workers deserve a fair process that is free from threats, intimidation, and interference to determine whether they want to unionize,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “The vast majority of casino employers in Las Vegas have agreed to this fair process allowing workers to make their own choices and build a better future for themselves, their families, and our entire city.”
Workers say a fair chance to decide on unionization can help assure that the casino’s owner, Brookfield Asset Management, follows the path of nearly all major casino employers in Las Vegas by ensuring the property’s workers are retained in the course of a sale. The Culinary Union, which represents 57,000 workers in nearly all of Las Vegas’ Strip and downtown casinos, has worked to ensure worker retention is the standard for the Las Vegas gaming industry.
“Throughout the years we have been joined by clergy, political leaders, and community leaders to call on owners and buyers to ensure the lives of workers and their families are not turned upside down when properties change hands,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline. “Owners come and go, but these workers have put down roots in our community and their families depend on them. If a majority of Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas workers choose to unionize, they will have a way to fight for these protections too.”
Las Vegas casinos typically retain the bulk of hourly workers in the event of a change in ownership. This best practice has prevailed even when there is not a union agreement. After the following transactions, workers were retained without being required to reapply:
- Station Casinos’s acquisition of the Palms in 2016
- Boyd’s purchase of Aliante and the Cannery casinos in 2016
- Blackstone’s acquisition of the Cosmopolitan in 2014
- Station Casinos LLC emergence from bankruptcy reorganization in 2011
- The Aladdin’s sale and rebranding to Planet Hollywood in 2007
- Harrah’s purchase of Imperial Palace in 2005
- Boyd’s purchase of the Coast properties in 2004
- Station Casinos’ purchase of The Reserve (renamed Fiesta Henderson) in 2010
- Harrah’s purchase of The Rio in 1998
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