BREAKING: After nearly 20 hours of negotiating, Culinary Union is pleased to announce a Tentative Agreement towards a new 5-year contract has been reached w/@MGMResortsIntl for approx 25,400 hospitality workers at 8 Vegas properties. Statement forthcoming. #OneJobShouldBeEnough pic.twitter.com/woVufUNkTR
— Culinary Union (@Culinary226) November 9, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, November 9, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Brian Ahern: media@mgmresorts.com
Tentative agreement reached between Culinary and Bartenders Union and MGM Resorts International -
Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary Union and Bartenders Unions are pleased to announce that a tentative agreement for a new five-year contract has been reached with MGM Resorts International covering over 25,400 of the company’s employees in Las Vegas less than 24 hours before the strike deadline.
The historic new agreement includes the largest wage increases ever negotiated in Culinary Union’s 88 year history, workload reductions for guest room attendants, mandated daily room cleaning, increased safety protections for workers on-the-job, expanded technology contract language, extended recall rights, and the right for unionized workers to support non-union restaurant workers seeking to unionize through picketing, leafletting and other actions.
Additional specifics of the new union collective bargaining agreement are not disclosed publicly at this time to ensure unionized MGM Resorts workers have the opportunity to see full details of their contract first and vote whether to accept it. A ratification vote by the membership will be scheduled soon. Given the tentative agreement, Culinary and Bartenders Union members will not strike MGM Resorts properties on Friday, November 10, 2023 as previously announced.
The new five-year contract covers eight Las Vegas MGM Resorts International casino resorts: Aria, Bellagio, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, New York-New York, and Park MGM.
“After 7 months of negotiations, we are proud to say that this is the best contract and economic package we have ever won for in our 88-year history,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “Workers have secured significant raises every year for the next five years, preserved our great union health insurance, union pension, and comprehensive union benefits, while gaining historic improvements in housekeeping workload reductions, substantial improvements for workers regarding safety at work, the ability to have a say in how technology impacts our work, and ensuring the union and members can support non-union hospitality workers who seek to join our union. With this new union contract, hospitality workers will be able to provide for their families and thrive in Las Vegas and we applaud MGM Resorts International, a company with which we have an over 40-year relationship, for showing leadership and doing the right thing to ensure their employees are treated with respect. Congratulations to MGM Resorts workers on your new tentative agreement!”
“Our employees are the heart of our company and the driving force in the success we’ve enjoyed in Las Vegas post-pandemic. We’re pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that averts a strike, gives our Culinary Union employees a well-earned boost to pay and benefits and reduces workloads – all while continuing to provide opportunities for growth and advancement,” said Bill Hornbuckle, President and CEO, MGM Resorts International. “We’re thankful to our employees and to the leadership of the Culinary and Bartenders Unions - especially Ted Pappageorge, Diana Valles, Terry Greenwald, and Lana Loebig, and their teams - who dedicated significant time and energy to negotiating this agreement that works for all parties.”
“Tonight, we won the best contract ever that we deserve and I’m so happy,” said Shaleah Taylor, a guest room attendant for Aria Casino and Culinary Union member for 14 years. “The credit reduction is very important to my daily workload because it means having less check out rooms on a busy day, which will help me have a more manageable day and more energy for my family when I get home from work. With these new wage increases, I can feel secure knowing that I can provide for my four children and my elderly mother who lives with me.”
“This contract is the best contract ever!” said Margaret Jaramillo, a food server at MGM Grand and Culinary Union member over 19 years. “My co-workers and I worked so hard for months in negotiations to win the highest wage increases we’ve ever had. I’m proud that we won a great contract because it protects us, our pension, our raises, our safety, and everything else that is important. We made our voice heard and I’m especially proud of the technology language that we expanded to further protect our jobs.”
In negotiations, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions have won a greater measure of security for workers including:
*Winning the largest wage increases 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.
*Strengthening existing technology protections to guarantee advanced notification when new technology is introduced which would impact jobs, require training for new jobs created by technology, health care and severance pay for workers who are laid off because of new technology, the right to privacy from tracking technology introduced by companies, notice of third-party data sharing workers have generated through their work, and the right to bargain over technology that tracks location of employees or messaging between workers.
*Extending recall rights so that workers have more job security and have the right to return to their jobs in the event of another pandemic or economic crisis for up to three-years.
*Making clear that the no-strike clause does not prevent the Culinary Union from taking action, including picketing and leafleting in support of non-union restaurants workers on the casino property.
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ABOUT CULINARY UNION:
Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent 60,000 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 300,000 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 145,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members and their dependents.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/Black/AAPI/immigrant organization with members who come from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 immigrants become American citizens and new voters since 2001 through our affiliate, The Citizenship Project.
The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 45% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latinx, 18% white, 15% Asian, 12% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples.
Culinary Union members work as: Guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers. The Culinary Union has been fighting and winning for working families in Nevada for 88 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
About MGM Resorts International
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife and retail offerings.
MGM Resorts creates immersive, iconic experiences through its suite of Las Vegas-inspired brands. The MGM Resorts portfolio encompasses 31 unique hotel and gaming destinations globally, including some of the most recognizable resort brands in the industry. The Company’s 50/50 venture, BetMGM, LLC, offers U.S. sports betting and online gaming through market-leading brands, including BetMGM and partypoker, and the Company’s subsidiary LeoVegas AB offers sports betting and online gaming through market-leading brands in several jurisdictions throughout Europe. The Company is currently pursuing targeted expansion in Asia through the integrated resort opportunity in Japan.
Through its “Focused on What Matters: Embracing Humanity and Protecting the Planet” philosophy, MGM Resorts commits to creating a more sustainable future, while striving to make a bigger difference in the lives of its employees, guests, and in the communities where it operates. The global employees of MGM Resorts are proud of their company for being recognized as one of FORTUNE® Magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies®.
For more information, please visit us at www.mgmresorts.com. Please also connect with us @MGMResortsIntl on Twitter as well as Facebook and Instagram.
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