Are the Hotel Union Contracts Coming up?

If my memory is serving me correctly, contract negotiations for union hotel workers should be getting going soon. Weren't the last five-year contracts finalized during the spring of 2018? And weren't they contentious enough that they came close to strikes? What can you say about how this current round is shaping up?

Your memory is serving you perfectly.

Over the spring of 2018, the Culinary and Bartenders unions were negotiating a new round of five-year contracts, up against the expiration date of June 1. Roughly 50,000 bartenders, housekeepers, bellmen, and kitchen workers at 34 hotel-casinos in Las Vegas were affected. A week before the expiration date, 99% of union members voted to strike if push came to shove.

Caesars and MGM properties signed first, as they usually do, without problems, at least that we heard about. But that left nearly 10,000 workers at a dozen or so properties without an agreement with their employers.

Stratosphere was the first after the two big companies to sign on June 28.

In early July, the unions set up "informational" pickets at the D and Westgate.

It wasn't until October 16 of that year that Treasure Island agreed to contract terms, the last Strip property to do so. Three weeks later on November 6, the D and Golden Gate downtown were the last two of them all to reach an agreement. Though TI, D, and Golden Gate workers had been without contracts for more than five months, no strike was ever called.

All those five-year contracts expire this year, again on June 1. Some noise is starting to be made about it, but not much so far.

An analyst for Deutsche Bank noted recently that the pay raises in 2018 were in the range of 2.5% to 3%, somewhat less than the 4% the unions were looking for. But due to inflation, record corporate profits, a shrinking work force, and other after-effects from the pandemic, the analyst predicted that the minimum for the new contracts would be no less than 5%. He cited the situation late last month at Penn Entertainment’s Hollywood Columbus and Hollywood Dayton casinos, where strikes were threatened. The unions (United Auto Workers and International Steelworkers) representing the hotel workers were asking for 12%-14% raises. No numbers were revealed, but the Steelworkers called it a “pretty historical deal.”

As a point of information, MGM Resorts has the most union employees, 69,000 at the end of 2021, the most recent figure; that represented nearly 60% of MRI workers, the highest percentage. Caesars had 49,000, Wynn nearly 27,000, Boyd 15,000, Station 7,800, and Golden Entertainment 6,300 (most of them at the STRAT and the lowest percentage of total employees at 35%).

Historically, the first major Culinary Union strike occurred in 1970 and lasted four days. The last time union workers went out on a mass strike was in 1984. That one was particularly contentious. More than 17,000 workers struck at 32 properties. The mass walkout lasted 75 days, though picketing continued at the holdouts for nine full months. More than 900 members went to jail and six casinos severed their ties with the union altogether. It cost workers an estimated $70 million and the casino industry $100 million.

Then of course, the union walked off the job at the Frontier in September 1991, launching the longest strike in U.S. history: six years, four months, and 10 days. It ended only when Phil Ruffin bought the resort from the Elardi family.

We can't predict what might transpire in the upcoming contract negotiations, but it does look like a minimum 12% compensation escalator sought by the Ohio unions is a lot more than the 5% the analyst cited. And with the post-pandemic issues, the unions might not be in as conciliatory a mood as they were in 2018. But history does, mostly, favor agreements.

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Comments

Dave_Miller_DJTB Jan-23-2023

Timing is everything

Over the weekend, there were reports on social media of walkouts, or at least, slow downs, by housekeeping  at several MGM properties. As I understand it, they are upset with the way management is treating them.

David Jan-23-2023

This is why my tipping is going way down

These union employees are making decent money with decent benefits. I feel no need to tip. In California and Oregon (where I live) restaurant employees are all making at least $15 an hour. Again, I feel less inclined to tip now that wages (and thus prices) have increased so much.

Jeffrey Small Jan-23-2023

Negotiations and Strikes

With the casino companies making record profits the employees will appropriately demand to share in the wealth that they produce. Thus, the upcoming contract negotiations will probably be rocky.  Management must realize that many of the workers can go across the street and find a similar job in this tight labor market.  Also, I recall that the longest strike in US history was the UAW strike at Kohler Corp in Wisconsin.  That strike lasted seven years (1954-1961).  Of course, there are also examples where a company just shuts a plant and never returns so those strikes are never resolved.

[email protected] Jan-23-2023

David

So you think $31,200 a year is decent money in 2023?  Note that the national median income for full time workers is just over $54,000, so you're talking about pay that is 42% below the mid-point of all US workers.

Lotel Jan-23-2023

They make a lot of money

Before you blindly support a union you may check to see a lot of these worker make over 100K$$ with good benefits and work conditions.  and then they hold their hand out expecting a large tip .

Ray Jan-23-2023

Thanks Schulz

Your comment to David assumes the $15 he was saying, yet we all know that MOST employees who live on tips are paid much less. It seems David is making excuses for being cheap. And Lotel? Please!! Point out to me anyone making 100K asking for a tip.

Bumbug Jan-23-2023

Tipping fairly

I wish tipping wasn't necessary because people were paid fairly, but that isn't the case today. Therefore, my primary concern is for housekeepers. Most people tip bellmen $5 to $10 for a few minutes work, and bellmen can make those tips several times an hour. Most people tip servers 15% or more of dining checks, which can add up, especially in more expensive restaurants. But housekeepers do back-breaking work on a dozen or so rooms each day for usually minimum wage or very little more and get tips from only a few of those rooms' occupants. Even if contract negotiations are successful and they get a decent raise they'll still be making barely enough to subsist. Cleaning rooms is VERY hard work, especially with many of the rooms' occupants being slobs. I ALWAYS tip housekeepers $5.00 per day. I leave it on my pillow each morning to ensure that the housekeeper who cleans my room that day gets the tip. I figure that it's the least I can do to thank them for a clean, well-supplied room.

[email protected] Jan-23-2023

Hotel Housekeepers

I agree housekeepers are the REAL hard hotel workers and should be tipped every day by guests. I also always thank them for their hard work when walking by them in a hallway. And they also will be more "generous" when you request extras like towels and especially bottled water. I regularly get two to four extra bottles of water every day in the room.

rokgpsman Jan-23-2023

Valet used to be plum job

There was a story in the LV Review-Journal a few years ago about a young man with an MBA degree from UNLV that was working at Caesars Palace as a parking valet. He had started as a valet when he was a UNLV student. As a valet he made over $100k per year with tips, and when he got his degree the best job offer he got was $65k so he stayed being a valet. The reporter interviewing him checked with other valets working at different high-end properties and found the same situation. A valet can park or retrieve a car fairly fast, many customers give a $5 or more tip, so the tips really add up. They said the valet job was highly sought after. So some valets continued doing the job even after graduating from UNLV. How many cars could you park or retrieve per hour with tips that are $5+ per car? I've seen valets jogging quickly from the valet booth to park & retrieve cars, they can do many per hour, especially during an event where the traffic is constant. But I think that's changed now.

Doc H Jan-23-2023

jobs galore

With the comments posted on what's a good salary or not, if one works in a job and it's not enough pay, time to move on for another job and stop whining, right? Especially now with such a tight labor market, I'm sick of hearing about the I don't make enough whining. That's on the person 100% as if it's not enough salary, time to move on, educate themselves, get in a different field, go to college, go to trade school to get the tons of work needed out there in so many fields because of the tight labor market. As for workers striking and walking off the job if they don't get their wish list, have to wonder if those days are nearing an end in Las Vegas, especially with tons of illegal aliens pouring over the border and willing to work for ultra cheap that economics says will bring down wages. For fans of open borders, be careful what you vote for as your neighbor, friend, or family member with a decent pay union unskilled labor job in a casino today might be out of a job very soon.

Llew Jan-23-2023

Bumbug

I try to leave the tip in a place that’s not too conspicuous. Years ago, one of my colleagues told me that her daughter worked in housekeeping at an upscale Atlantic City casino hotel. Her supervisor used to “check the rooms” before they were cleaned and steal the housekeepers’ tips!  Unfortunately, it took quite a while before the housekeepers could prove it.  Meanwhile, they lost a *lot* of income. 
One of my favorite places to leave the tip is in the bathroom under a tissue box or some other object on the counter.

Question of the Day - 23 January 2023

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