Two days before the deadline hits for 35,000 casino workers to strike on the Las Vegas Strip, the culinary union has reached a tentative agreement with Caesars Entertainment. The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 says it has been negotiating with employers at three big powerhouse employers — Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, and Wynn Resorts — for seven months. About 40,000 of the union's 60,000 members have been working under an expired contract since mid-September.
A spokesperson for the union issued a statement to Eater Vegas on Wednesday, November 8, saying, “After 20 straight hours of negotiations, Culinary Union is pleased to announce a tentative agreement towards a new five-year contract has been reached with Caesars Entertainment for approximately 10,000 hospitality workers at nine Vegas properties.”
Tuesday’s negotiations with Caesars wrapped up at around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, with what Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer, said was a historic contract. During a press conference on Wednesday, Pappageorge said that the agreement with Caesars accomplished the union’s big three priorities: winning financial packages of wages, health care, and pension plans that increased substantially from the previous five-year contract; agreements for processes of introducing AI and robotics into the workplace; and securing daily room cleanings.
Cherie Earl, a cocktail server at Mandalay Bay, said during the conference that the primary concern for her and fellow food service employees was that of technology taking away jobs. “Technology is the reason we want to strike if we do not get strong language,” said Earl. “We have lost jobs due to tech. We know tech is inevitable but want to be prepared and have language to protect all of us and our jobs.”
Pappageorge said that AI combined with robotics can eliminate jobs — and that the remaining duties get transferred to existing employees’ workloads. Protections in the Caesars deal include language that employers must alert the union six months before introducing technology that could reduce or alter jobs so that employees can prepare or receive another encoded protection — mandatory training. Another protection stated in the Caesars deal is that of a significant increase in pay, as well as benefits for employees who are pushed out of a job due to changes in technology.