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Las Vegas Poker Tourism Safe From Union Strike

Culinary Union Reaches Tentative Deals With MGM, Caesars

by Brian Pempus  |  Published: Jun 04, 2018  |  

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Fifty thousand casino workers won’t be striking in Las Vegas for better wages and job security as the world’s foremost poker festival enters its second week.

A potential labor strike involving many of the city’s hospitality workers was lingering as a possibility this past weekend, but the local Culinary Union announced Saturday that it has reached tentative deals with both MGM Resorts and Caesars, two of the largest employers on the Strip and where the bulk of the aforementioned employees work. A worker walkout could have cost the city as much as $300 million in the first month, according to the union. Altogether, 34 different casinos spread between the Strip and Downtown Las Vegas could have been affected (however, not the Rio casino-hotel). The workers included bartenders, guest room attendants, cocktail servers, food servers, porters, bellman, cooks and kitchen workers.

The last time there was such a strike in America’s gambling hub was back in the 1980s, and it lasted 67 days. A similar shutdown could have been a thorn in the side for the tens of thousands of poker tourists who visit Las Vegas during the annual World Series of Poker, which runs from late May to mid-July. The WSOP drew poker players from 111 different countries last year.

Terms of the tentative agreements weren’t made public, but workers were demanding increased wages and protection from automation in the service industry. “I voted yes to go on strike to ensure my job isn’t outsourced to a robot,” Chad Neanover, a cook at Caesars’ Margaritaville, said in a union press release.

The strike was being flouted at a time when the Las Vegas casino industry is approaching the fortunes seen before the Great Recession. Over the 12 months prior to May 1, 2018, Nevada casinos won $11.72 billion from gamblers, up 2.8 percent compared to the same period the previous year. Statewide gaming win reached a high of $12.84 billion in calendar year 2007, only to fall drastically over the next two years before inching back up over the past seven years and change. While gaming revenue is still recovering, the Nevada casino industry’s total revenue is already at all-time highs again. In fiscal year 2017, the industry reported $26.17 billion in revenue from gaming, rooms, food, beverage and other amenities, nearly $1 billion more than total revenue in 2007, before the financial crisis.

In other words, revenue from hotel rooms, food and beverage sales have never been greater in Nevada, and the hospitality workers wanted a greater piece of the pie. The workers are members of UNITE HERE’s Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165. UNITE HERE represents 270,000 workers in gaming, hotel and food service industries in North America.

 
 
Tags: Las Vegas,   WSOP,   World Series of Poker,   Rio,   Strike,   Strip
 
 
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