Workers at downtown Las Vegas casinos will go on strike starting June 1.
The Culinary Union (Local 226), representing 55,000 workers in casinos in Las Vegas and Reno, has issued a call for action against nine downtown casinos starting June 1st. Tensions have been building for a while, and this comes after 18 months of talks between the union and these casinos on matters like medical benefits, more wages, and set work weeks.
These conversations haven't made much progress, so the employees have been working without contracts for a year now. They decided to go on strike two months ago, and this is the first time an official date for the action has been announced.
"Strike is an Option of Last Resort"
About 2,000 cooks, cleaners, bartenders, waiters, cocktail servers, porters, and others are expected to abandon their jobs and join the picket lines outside Binion's, El Cortez, Four Queens, Fremont, Golden Gate, Las Vegas Club, Main Street Station, Plaza, and The D. However, the union has mentioned they're still considering settling and canceling the strike. Union officials have meetings with casino bosses, and Bethany Khan, a representative of the union, believes that an agreement can be reached, just like what happened with the Golden Nugget last month.
"A strike is an option of last resort, and we'd prefer a contract:" she states.
According to the head of the Culinary Union, Geoconda Arguello-Kline, in a statement, "Our members downtown deserve to make a good living by working hard under a fair contract. They should not be left behind as hundreds of millions of new investments flow in for downtown's revitalization."
Union "Talking Tough"
But, Bill Werner, an associate professor of labor relations and employment law at UNLV, thinks it could just be "saber-rattling" from the union, and that Boyd Gaming will probably come to an agreement soon. Boyd Gaming didn't comment on the situation.
"There have been very few times when downtown casinos have gone through a strike that didn't start on the Strip," Werner said. "There's no reason to think there's some issue downtown that's causing an absolute impasse that doesn't exist anywhere else on the Strip. That issue would have shown itself by now.
"They're close to reaching an agreement on the last few matters," he added. "But every contract negotiation comes down to the last few things, and then an agreement gets worked out."
Still, the members of the union appear to be serious about striking. They held an informational picket on Fremont Street last month and have signed up for strike benefits and picket shifts. The last time employees in the Las Vegas casinos went on a major strike, it resulted in picketers occupying the Frontier Casino for six years - this was more than twenty years ago.
A prep cook, Chad Neanover, stated: "I'd strike for as long as I needed to." He explained that without those benefits, he wouldn't be able to support his two children or pay for his wife's diabetes medication.
Patricia Montes, a housekeeper at Four Queens, also spoke: "We are the backbone of downtown Las Vegas, and we ask that the public supports us by not crossing strike lines."
We're guessing by "public," she means the tourists who have been saving all year to blow their money in Las Vegas, so good luck with that.
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