Las Vegas Culinary Union Workers Plan Picket at Downtown Casinos
April 10, 2014 - Culinary Workers Union Local 226 members will be on the picket line this weekend to voice their dissatisfaction over the lack of new contracts with 10 downtown casinos.
The union, in a media advisory posted this evening on its website, said members would picket from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday in downtown Las Vegas.
Union members from Binion's, El Cortez, Four Queens, Fremont, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, Las Vegas Club, Las Vegas Plaza, Main Street Station, The D and Brady Laundries will form the picket. Union members from Strip casinos will join in solidarity, according to the advisory.
On March 27, union workers from the 10 downtown casinos and two other companies -- Brady Laundries in North Las Vegas and Margaritaville on the Strip -- voted overwhelming to authorize a strike if bargaining didn't yield a new contract.
The union's leadership can call for a strike against any of the targeted companies at any time.
Culinary and bartender unions reached agreement last month on a five-year contract with the LVH, formerly the Las Vegas Hilton.
MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp., which control a majority of Strip properties, previously negotiated new five-year union pacts.
Stratosphere, Riviera, Tropicana and Treasure Island have also settled.
The new contracts preserve health benefits and add measures to protect housekeepers from hazardous work conditions. The deals also aim to restore workers laid off when restaurants closed during the recession.
The last strike in Las Vegas ended in 1991, after workers picketed the Frontier casino for more than six years.
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