What Are the Issues around the Threatened Union Strike in Vegas?

Here we go again, with the non-gambling unions voting for a strike. I remember it came down to the wire last time around, but its seems like this time, there's more at stake, with the race coming up soon. What are the issues? It's hard for me to believe that the big casino companies could be trying to cry poor, given record revenues and profits.

Money, workload and more hiring, safety protections, job security (in the face of automation), money, daily room cleaning, clarity in the no-strike clause, and money.

As for money, it's no secret that the casinos are posting record profits month after month, given casino executives' breathless descriptions of earnings and margins on quarterly investor calls over the past several years. The Culinary and Bartenders unions, representing upwards of 50,000 non-casino employees (cooks, kitchen workers, food and cocktail servers, bartenders, housekeepers, porters, bellmen, laundry workers, and the like) at roughly 50 Strip and downtown properties are asking for double-digit increases in salaries to reap their share of the record earnings and keep up with inflation. Several gaming analysts are on record predicting those double-digit wage increases over the new five-year contract period.

Nor is it unrevealed that the casino companies never hired back all the workers they employed prior to the pandemic shutdown, which creates a heavier workload for shorthanded departments, especially housekeeping and restaurants. The unions want more employees hired back.

Automation is also a major concern, especially in food and beverage. Bartenders are already being replaced by robotics. The unions want retraining programs for workers displaced by tech.

Daily room cleaning comes part and parcel with increased workload, according to union spokespeople and employees interviewed after the strike vote. Daily cleaning was eliminated during COVID and never brought back, so rooms are dirtier and take longer to prepare for arriving guests, though the number of rooms housekeepers are responsible for daily hasn't been reduced.

The no-strike clause is perhaps the stickiest point in contention. The just-expired contract affords union workers the right not to cross picket lines; it also allows the union to take action against non-union restaurants on otherwise union properties. The casinos, reportedly, are holding out for rescinding some of that language.

Obviously, the casinos need a deal to be reached in the next six weeks or so, far enough in advance of the Las Vegas Grand Prix that the race isn't disrupted. It would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions if it is -- and over a labor dispute. Analysts have also declared that contracts will be signed in time, though the union is warning that it might require a walkout.

So we now have two coinciding races.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

Have a question that hasn't been answered? Email us with your suggestion.

Missed a Question of the Day?

Have a Question?

Tomorrow's Question

Has Clark County ever considered legalizing prostitution?

Comments

David Miller Oct-02-2023

Makes One Wonder

 Just where is all of the money the casinos are making going?

kafka45 Oct-02-2023

its the right time....

you want to strike (if necessary).. when it will cause the most inconvenience..  the F1 mishigas  is the perfect time to put the pressure on the casinos..  Somebody needs to that's for sure.

jay Oct-02-2023

Keeping it political

I am so not a unionist .... but with the %^&* mess that the F1 is causing and the casino gouge that is going on right now ... I hope the unions stick it to them. 

Wonder if Joe will be in town to join the picket line.

Texas Transplant Oct-02-2023

Stick it to the casinos!

The F1 gives the unions more leverage than they have ever had.  The casinos deserve no mercy at the bargaining table, they have show that they will try to squeeze every cent out of their patrons, the unions should try to get everything they can out of the casinos.

Likewise for all the traffic and other problems that F1 has been causing visitors and residents the last 4-5 months, it would serve them right to have a curve ball thrown at them by a strike.

Based on a lot of other LVA comments I've read, I am sure that it F1 has disappointing/poor results, no matter what the reason, I don't think that many tears would be shed on this web site.

Raymond Oct-02-2023

David Miller

The money is going exactly where I think you suspect it's going--into the pockets of corporte executives as "bonuses", and into a few other pockets that we can't mention.  Gotta keep the wheels of government and commerce properly greased.

jay--I'm with you.  I'm from a "mixed marriage"--Dad was a middle manager, Mom was a union rep in another industry.  I hope the union really sticks it to management, because I've seen how hard the rank-and-file work in this case, and if things are good, they deserve a piece of the action.

Question of the Day - 02 October 2023

Comments