MGM Resorts International has reached a tentative agreement with Culinary Union Local 226, avoiding walkouts at its Las Vegas properties less than 24 hours ahead of the union’s strike deadline.
The agreement is toward a five-year contract that would cover over 25,000 workers across eight MGM properties.
It includes the largest wage increases ever negotiated in the Culinary Union, reduced workloads for room attendants, mandated daily room cleaning and increased safety protections.
The deal was reached after “nearly 20 hours of negotiating,” according to a Culinary Union post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
In a video in the post, a voice can be heard speaking into a microphone to a cheering audience: “Today, at — what time is it guys? 5:45 in the morning? — we have a contract.”
The contract also outlines unionized workers’ right to support non-union restaurant workers’ unionization efforts. The Culinary Union is currently supporting unionizing campaigns at several non-union restaurants, including Park MGM’s Eataly Las Vegas.
Further details of the contract were not publicly disclosed. In an earnings call with analysts Thursday, MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle addressed the ongoing negotiations.
“In Las Vegas, as you know, Caesars Entertainment came to a new tentative collective bargaining agreement this morning, and we are literally in session as we speak,” he said. “We know from listening to our employees that they are looking for a pay increase to combat inflation, as well as reduced workloads, among other concerns. This deal, when announced, will do just that and will result in the largest pay increase in the history of our negotiations with the Culinary Union.”
Tom Reeg, the CEO of Caesars, which reached a similar agreement with its union workers yesterday, shared the sentiment in an earnings call last week, saying the contract will be “the largest increase that our employees have seen in the four decades since we started interacting with the Culinary Union.”
With Caesars and MGM having reached agreements with the Culinary Union, only one resort operator remains in negotiations: Wynn Resorts.
If Wynn does not make a deal with the union by the Nov. 10 strike deadline, workers at Wynn Las Vegas will walk off the job.
