After 25 years of operating as a non-union hotel and convention center, The Venetian Resort Las Vegas now has a tentative agreement with Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165. The four-year contract covers more than 4,000 employees in the resort’s food and beverage, housekeeping, bar, lounge, and bell departments.
The contract secures a wage increase of more than 35 percent, workload reductions, on-the-job worker safety rules, and other protections that mirror the five-year union contracts secured with MGM International, Wynn Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment late last year. Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 currently 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.
The tentative agreement now awaits a ratification by the 4,000 newly unionized hospitality workers at the resort’s two properties, The Venetian and The Palazzo.
A deal would mark the end of more than two decades of anti-union efforts by the former owner of The Venetian and The Palazzo, Sheldon Adelson. Two months after his passing in January 2021, the two properties were acquired for $6.25 billion in a two-part deal between real estate trust VICI Properties, which purchased the land, resort properties, and the Venetian Expo for $4 billion, and Apollo, which acquired the resort’s operations for $2.25 billion.
Event hosts will be watching to see how the deal could affect costs, staffing, or scheduling of labor, coordination with outside vendors, and other issues. The agreement also comes at a time when many other hotel workers around the country are in contract negotiations. At more than 50 hotels in Boston, Honolulu, Providence, and San Francisco, workers have voted to authorize a strike if ongoing negotiations fail.
Remaining non-union venues in Las Vegas include the recently opened Fontainebleau Las Vegas and the Sphere, the landmark entertainment arena.
