Las Vegas Culinary Union workers have signed a tentative deal with the Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino. The Culinary Union Local 226 reached an agreement on a five-year contract for its 200 casino workers and said the deal was “the best contract ever.”
As a result, the pending strike scheduled for later today has been called off. Prior to reaching a series of agreements over the weekend, the strike deadline had been moved from last Friday to today.
The union celebrated its successful negotiations and outlined the lengthy process in a statement by saying, “These were tough negotiations, and it took over two years of preparation, 10 months of negotiations, lots of hard work, committee meetings, sleepless nights and worker-led organizing. No victory in our union’s history is ever guaranteed, and thousands of workers who participated in rallies, protests, civil disobedience, picketing, surveys, picket sign making, strike voting and delegations inside the properties sacrificed to win a better future for themselves and our families.
“Culinary Union members comprise a major component of Nevada’s middle-class and in these negotiations, we proudly won our fair share of record profits by securing historic protections and billions in raises for working families in Nevada.”
In addition to reaching a negotiation with Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, Local 226 successfully worked out tentative deals with all other remaining Las Vegas Strip casinos except for one, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal local report.
The union, along with the associated Bartenders Local 165, said they would give off-Strip resort Virgin Las Vegas more time to reach an agreement “as negotiations continue to progress.”
The group went on to add that it expects “a resolution on a new contract in the coming weeks.”
