After its members authorized a strike in Las Vegas, the Culinary Union announced it will hold talks this week with three major casino operators.
A union spokesman said negotiations will start on Tuesday local time with MGM Resorts. On Wednesday, there will be talks with Caesars Entertainment. And on Friday, talks with Wynn Resorts.
The union’s contract with those three companies ended last month. Roughly 40,000 employees are covered by the union at 20 Las Vegas resorts. Those employees are all working currently under expired contracts.
Last week, 95% of the union’s members voted to authorize a strike. With that authorization, a strike could happen at any time, which would throw Las Vegas and its economy into a tailspin – a particularly frightful prospect with the National Football League season in full swing and the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix coming up in November.
The union has not set a strike deadline and says it is still negotiating with the casino operators in good faith, so it is possible a strike could be avoided.
The Culinary and Bartenders Unions have been involved in talks for a new, 5-year contracts at 44 Sin City properties. Those properties include most of the resorts on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas.
We examined the prospect of a Las Vegas strike in last week's GI Friday newsletter.
