Last week, UNITE HERE’s Culinary and Bartenders Unions reached tentative agreements with MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment in an effort to avoid a strike impacting casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. At least 16 notable Las Vegas hotels and casinos are still negotiating new contracts, despite being 12 days past the previous contracts' expiration date of June 1.
Negotiations continue for Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, SLS Las Vegas, Stratosphere Las Vegas, Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, Tropicana Las Vegas, Westgate Las Vegas Casino & Resort, Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel, Downtown Grand, El Cortez, Four Queens, Fremont Hotel and Casino, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Golden Nugget Las Vegas, Main Street Hotel & Casino, The D Las Vegas and The Plaza Hotel & Casino.
The new, five-year contract agreement between the unions and MGM and Caesars covers approximately 24,000 workers at 10 casino resorts.
"The agreements with MGM and Caesars have historic language regarding immigration, technology and automation, and safety, from sexual harassment language to safety buttons," said Bethany Khan, spokeswoman for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, according to NBC News. "We always have one standard for our contracts, and we are going to negotiate that one standard with other properties."
The contracts with the above properties, as well as those owned by MGM and Caesars, expired June 1. Previously, on May 22, the union had voted to authorize a strike after the expiration of their contracts. While no date has been set for a possible strike, workers, as reported by NBC News, have begun signing up for strike pay, financial assistance and picketing shifts. If there is a strike, visitors could see workers picketing outside the properties still in negotiations.
UNITE HERE's last major strike took place in Atlantic City in 2004 and lasted 34 days. The last major strike of this kind in Las Vegas took place in 2002, when 25,000 workers went on strike; another citywide strike in 1984 lasted for 67 days.
The Culinary Union has set up a website to keep track of the travel impacts of the labor disputes.
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