The roughly 30,000 culinary workers in Las Vegas who have been working without a contract since June 1st will soon vote on whether or not to strike.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents cocktail workers, waitresses, bellmen, kitchen workers, housekeepers, and other service workers in Las Vegas casinos, has scheduled a strike authorization vote for September 12 for members still working without contracts at that time. Union spokesperson Maya Holmes would not speculate on how soon after the vote workers would strike if a strike is authorized. The last time casino workers struck was in Atlantic City, N.J., in 2004, and they struck several weeks after the strike authorization vote, coinciding with a deadline set by the union. That strike lasted 31 days.
Local 226 in Las Vegas, which is part of Unite Here, voted to authorize a strike the last time the collective bargaining agreement was up in 2002, but an agreement was reached within days of the strike authorization vote.
About 21,000 of the 30,000 workers without a contract work at nine MGM properties in Las Vegas. The remaining 9,000 have jobs at a variety of other casinos in the city. In July, the union reached an agreement with Harrah’s Entertainment and its seven Las Vegas casinos, covering approximately 15,000 workers. The Harrah’s contract, which Holmes calls “precedent-setting,” allows the union to grow with the casino.