Dive Brief:
- Resort strikes will not happen in Las Vegas, thanks to tentative agreements reached between the Culinary Union and the remaining properties with strike deadlines over the weekend.
- Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino was the final property to reach a contract agreement with its union workers in eleventh-hour negotiations ahead of the deadline, according to the Culinary Union. Workers there won contract improvements similar to those their fellow union members negotiated at MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts and Caesars Entertainment in November.
- The final resort agreement marks the end of months of negotiations between the Culinary and Bartenders Unions, known collectively as the Culinary Union, which has won wage increases for over 17,000 workers in Las Vegas.
Dive Insight:
Though a strike was averted, the deadline loomed as of Friday, Feb. 2, with a possibility for as many as 3,600 workers to walk out Monday.
Over the weekend, Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge told Reuters that President Biden had committed to joining striking workers on the picket line if they walked out.
In a release sent Monday, the union reiterated its invite to the president to join them, even though walkouts will no longer happen.
“We appreciate the Biden/Harris Administration’s steadfast support during our historic contract fight to ensure that working families in Nevada can thrive,” read a release obtained by Hotel Dive. Vice President Kamala Harris previously visited the union’s headquarters in January.
Of the 21 properties where the Culinary Union set strike deadlines for last month, only one — Virgin Hotel Las Vegas — has not reached an agreement with its workers. The union, however, expects a resolution on a new contract there in the coming weeks and has ended the strike deadline at the property.
The Culinary Union initially authorized a strike in September, a few months after its affiliate union, Unite Here, commenced walkouts in Southern California.
Unite Here workers at several California properties have since won wage increases similar to those in Las Vegas, but strikes continue at others, including several properties managed by Aimbridge Hospitality.
