FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, October 11, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Culinary Union wins first restaurant union contract at Eataly Las Vegas at the Park MGM in campaign to organize 10,000 workers -
Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary Union is pleased to announce that a tentative agreement was reached on October 2, 2024 with Eataly Las Vegas, located at MGM Resorts International’s Park MGM Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The new 4-year agreement, which comes after the company agreed to honor a card check neutrality agreement in March 2024, covers approximately 130 hospitality workers. Contract negotiations began May 2024 for the very first union contract in that venue’s history since it opened December 2018.
The new tentative agreement is the first restaurant unionization victory since the Culinary Union launched a campaign on Labor Day in September 2023 to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers in Las Vegas. Tens of thousands of Culinary Union members mobilized during the 2023 Citywide Contract campaign to win new union contract language that allows unionized workers to better support non-union restaurant workers as they organize.
The historic first union contract includes the largest wage increases workers have received since the venue opened in 2018. Cooks secured an average $10 per hour raise, while fountain workers won nearly $3 per hour, with all wage increases retroactive to April 2024. The agreement also provides access to the Culinary Health Fund, protections for owners and successorship, and benefits such as the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, the Culinary and Bartenders Housing Fund, the Legal Service Fund, and the Culinary Union Pension. Additionally, the contract language won strengthens protections for workers and includes increased worker security regarding sexual harassment, technology, and immigration, among other standard union benefits.
“We are very excited that Eataly Las Vegas is union! It was inspiring for me to see the progress of these past months, because things don’t happen overnight,” said Keila Cortez, a fountain worker at Eataly for 1 year. “The opportunity to have amazing health care and not have to worry about when I can see the doctor or how much it will cost is very important to me. It's something we all need, especially as we get older. I’m proud to have negotiated a union contract and won a raise that will help us be more comfortable. Having the union contract and protections will also make us feel more secure. There are so many people in my family that work two or three jobs to get by, which is hard to see because I believe that everyone should only have to work one job in order to support their family. My advice for restaurant workers who are fighting for a union is to keep at it. Talk to as many of your co-workers as possible and show your passion because we're trying to make a better life for everyone.”
“Congratulations to Eataly Las Vegas workers on winning a union contract! Eataly Las Vegas workers were supported by tens of thousands of union hospitality workers who were willing to go on strike to ensure that non-union workers aren’t left behind and that one job should be enough. With this victory, we know that it’s not just 130 workers who will benefit - it’s also their families and communities that will do better,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “Eataly Las Vegas workers are the first workers to win union recognition, but they won’t be the last. Currently, we have strong organizing campaigns continuing at Alexxa’s at Paris Las Vegas and Citizens at Mandalay Bay, and Culinary Union will launch more non-union restaurant organizing drives over the next coming months. We won’t stop organizing until we win higher standards for non-union restaurant workers across the Las Vegas Strip. Culinary Union celebrates our 89-year anniversary this year and we know first-hand the organizing and militancy it has taken to build Nevada’s middle class and what it will take to ensure working families can thrive. Nothing in our nine decades has been won easily and our good jobs weren’t simply handed to us. We made hospitality jobs in Las Vegas family-sustaining jobs with decades of sacrifice and strength, and we will continue to win what we deserve - a great union job with fair wages, job security, and the best health care benefits so that workers can continue to provide for their families.”
Culinary Union maintains the website, UnionEats.org, which features active organizing campaigns at non-union restaurants in Las Vegas, including Alexxa’s at Caesars Entertainment’s Paris Casino, and Citizens at MGM Resorts’ Mandalay Bay where restaurant workers are actively organizing to win a union.
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ABOUT CULINARY UNION:
Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of the casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. UNITE HERE represents 300,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America.
The Culinary Union, through the Culinary Health Fund, is one of the largest healthcare consumers in the state. The Culinary Health Fund is sponsored by the Culinary Union and Las Vegas-area employers. It provides health insurance coverage for over 145,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members and their dependents.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/Black/AAPI/immigrant organization with members who come from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 immigrants become American citizens and new voters since 2001 through our affiliate, The Citizenship Project.
The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 60% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latinx, 18% white, 15% Asian, 12% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples.
Culinary Union members work as: Guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers. The Culinary Union has been fighting and winning for working families in Nevada for 89 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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