Culinary Union celebrates 89 years of fighting and winning for working families in Nevada
Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary Union, a UNITE HERE local affiliate, was chartered on November 1, 1935. 2024 marks the 89th anniversary of an organization that has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Nevada hospitality workers and their families with union wages and benefits. In nearly nine decades, the Culinary Union is an essential economic institution and a strong political force in the Battle Born State.
The Culinary Union has won a middle-class standard of living for over 800,000 hospitality workers in 89 years through militant rank-and-file organizing and mass actions. Worker membership has risen from 18,000 in 1987 to 60,000 members today.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/Black/AAPI/immigrant organization with members who are originally from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 45% 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, bakers, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers.
Highlights from the Culinary Union’s legacy:
1935: The Culinary Union was chartered on November 1, 1935.
1949: July 2-8, 1949, the Culinary Union led a historic 7-day strike in the Reno-Sparks area, demanding that all hotel service workers be included in union contracts and fighting for higher wages. The strike began July 2 at 12pm and disrupted businesses during a major holiday weekend as 42 bars closed, workers walked out at 55 restaurants, and picket lines went up in front of several properties. The strike drew support of other unions who refused to cross the picket lines and the ire of anti-union forces, including prominent political figures and business interests who eventually passed a “Right-to-Work [for Less]” law in Nevada in response to this specific labor demonstration of worker power.
1953: The so-called “Right-to-Work [for Less]” policy was passed in 1950 (50.7%), ratified by voters in 1952, and became law effective on January 1, 1953 primarily in response to the Culinary Union’s record of strong organizing and successful wins for working people in Nevada. The Culinary Union maintains a very high membership and overwhelmingly strong dues density because working people believe in the power of their union and that with a strong union contract, workers can have fair wages, job security, and the best health benefits in Nevada.
1954: Elmer "Al" Bramlet is elected secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union in 1954. Under Bramlet's leadership, Culinary Union membership grew from 1,000 members to 22,000 at the time of his death (1977). Bramlet is credited for diversifying the workforce population in Nevada as he traveled the south and recruited workers for the growing hospitality and gaming industry in Las Vegas.
1958: In response to the Culinary Union's growing organizing power and several labor-led efforts to repeal the harmful anti-worker "Right to Work [for Less]" law, business interests launched an initative in 1958 to raise the signature requirements and made it more difficult for Nevadans to put initatives on the ballot and ultimately pass them. The business-backed measure raised the signature requirements by mandating that petitions meet quotas in three-quarters of the State’s 17 counties and added a unique requirement that initiatives to amend the state constitution must be approved by voters twice, in consecutive elections, before taking effect - something found only in Nevada. This tactic has continued to impact the state’s ballot initiative process.
1960s: The Culinary Health Fund, one of the largest healthcare consumers in the state, was founded in the 1960s and currently provides full coverage healthcare benefits (vision and dental included) to over 145,000 participants (60,000 members and their family) in Las Vegas. Culinary Union members do not pay a monthly premium for family healthcare coverage and they have a $0 deductible.
1967: The Culinary Union initiated a strike against 12 Downtown Las Vegas casino hotels. The strike lasted for six days.
1970: The Culinary and Bartenders Unions had a work stoppage March 12-15, 1970 against 16 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip for four days. Casinos went dark for the first time in Las Vegas history since they had opened. The impact of the strike was felt throughout the hospitality industry: Airlines reported only handfuls of passengers, taxi cabs were idle, and small hotels throughout the city were vacant. Nevada Governor Paul Laxalt brokered a 24-hour negotiation session between the unions and hotel owners. The Nevada Resort Association estimated a $600,000 in daily loss in profits for casino resorts at the time.
1971: The Culinary and Bartenders Unions Pension Plan has provided over $1.6 billion in pension payments to members and their families since it was founded in 1971, so that workers can retire with dignity. Approximately 25,000 retires receive a Culinary Union Pension benefit a year.
1973: A strike against casinos lasted nine days.
1975: The Culinary Union represents 27,000 members.
1976: The Culinary Union joined Musicians Local 369 and Stagehands Local 720 in striking 15 Las Vegas casinos (including Caesars Palace, the Dunes, Circus Circus, and the M.G.M. Grand Hotel) for 16 days, effectively shutting down most of the Strip. 11 casinos (Sands, Desert Inn, Frontier, Castaways, Silver Slipper, Landmark, Thunderbird, Sahara, Flamingo Hilton, Las Vegas Hilton, and Tropicana) closed temporarily during the strike. Workers were fighting for a pay increase of $1.35 an hour, plus fortified health and pension benefits. Culinary Union strike kitchen fed about 17,000 picketing workers a day, going through 1,200 loaves of bread, 5,000 pounds of meat; making 1,500 bologna or ham-and-cheese sandwiches a day. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated overall losses at $131 million during the dispute.
*Culinary Union represented 23,000 members in 1976.
1980: 6 Culinary Union members lost their lives in the MGM casino fire on November 21, 1980. John Ashton (room service server), Elizabeth Barresi (guest room attendant), Maria Capetillo (room service server), Willie Duncan (guest room attendant), Phyllis Thomas (cashier), and Clarence White (baker).
1984:
*More than 17,000 Culinary Union members from 32 Las Vegas Strip resorts went on strike alongside IATSE, Bartenders, Musicians Union. Culinary Union members win a contract victory after 53 days on strike, but workers stay out another 2 weeks in solidarity with Musicians and IATSE for a total of 67 days. In one of the largest strikes in Las Vegas history, workers picketed for 67 days, 900 strikers were arrested over the course of the citywide strike. Six casinos (Four Queens, Sam’s Town, California, Holiday International, Holiday Inn South, and Marina Hotel and Casino) did not initially sign union contracts, three resorts become union again over the years. The Holiday International in Downtown Las Vegas closed after the 1984 Strike and eventually reopened as the current unionized Main Street Station. The Marina Hotel and Casino merged with MGM in 1989 as MGM-Marina and was union. Four Queens later becomes union again in 2003.
*In 1984 the Culinary Union represented 26,000 members.
1987:
*Jim Arnold was elected as Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer in 1987 and worked with John Wilhelm, D. Taylor, and other HERE International Union organizers to rebuild the Culinary Union.
*The Culinary Union, along other Nevada unions, went on strike with 600 workers walking off the job on September 15, 1987 at Nevada Test Site (Nevada National Security Site). The strike lasted for 10-weeks as the Culinary Union fought for stronger contract language to protect workers from being fired unfairly and without cause. The Culinary Union represented over 600 workers who provided food services at the two classified government facilities, the Test Site and Test Range. 3,000 workers from the different unions honored the action and did not cross picket lines.
1989:
*While the industry geared up to break the union, the Culinary Union fought and secured card check neutrality agreements which became the standard in the Las Vegas gaming industry. The Mirage became the first in 1989 followed in 1990 by the Excalibur. With card check neutrality agreements, employers agree to remain neutral and respect workers choice on whether to unionize, and Culinary Union membership rises to 60,000 by 2019.
*A difficult contract fight at the Fitzgeralds Hotel resulted in 6 months of daily picketing outside the property in 1989. The contract was eventually settled and now it stands as the D Hotel & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. Culinary Union's, Geoconda Argüello-Kline, worked as a guest room attendant for seven years at the Fitzgerald and got involved as a negotiating committee leader and picket line captain.
1990: A nine-month strike at the Horseshoe ended in victory for the Culinary Union. Ted Pappageorge, participated as a negotiating committee leader and picket captain. Hattie Canty became the first Black woman and first guest room attendant to be elected to be president of the Culinary Union. Canty, a strong leader and former hotel housekeeper from the Maxim Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Hattie later continued her career as an instructor at the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas.
1991: The longest and most successful strike in the history of the United States, the Frontier Strike, begins September 21, 1991. Geoconda Argüello-Kline was a lead organizer in this historic 24-hours-a-day, 7-days a week strike. The strike lasted for 6 years, 4 months, and 10 days.
1993:
*The Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, founded in 1993, is a nationally recognized model of labor and management cooperation and is a partnership between the Culinary and Bartenders Unions and 35 properties on the Las Vegas Strip. The Culinary Academy has trained over 55,000 students in high-quality programs which facilitate entry into the hospitality industry and improve workers’ ability to move up in their careers. The Culinary Academy originally opened in a Days Inn motel on Fremont Street in 1993, but is now situated on the Historic Westside neighborhood in Las Vegas.
*The MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip opened as the largest hotel in the world in 1993. Workers fight for five years to organize and win a Culinary Union contract.
1994:
*Barbara Buckley, a former Culinary Union member who worked as a guest room attendant at MGM Casino (now Bally’s Casino), is elected in the Nevada Assembly in 1994.
1997:
*The Culinary Health Fund was the first health plan in Nevada to recognize and provide benefits to same-sex domestic partners in 1997, 17 years before gay marriage was legal in the state. The Culinary Health Fund also covers medications and counseling services associated with HIV/AIDS, and since January 2018, offers coverage for gender confirmation hormone therapy, surgery, and counseling services for individuals seeking to transition.
*The Culinary Union represents 40,000 members. 47% Latino, 30% white, 12% Black, and 11% Asian in 1997.
*Over 13,000 workers showed up at two rallies outside of the NY-NY Casino on May 30, 1997 and July 20, 1997 to show support for the ARK worekrs against anti-union subcontracting.
1998:
*The longest successful strike in the history of the United States, the Frontier Strike, which began September 21, 1991, ends after 6 years, 4 months, and 10 days on February 1, 1998. Over 550 workers maintained a 24/7 picket line and not one striker ever crossed the line. At the end of the strike, all the strikers were able to return back to work. The Culinary Union was able to negotiate that original workers were brought back to their jobs and workers were provided back pay and benefits. During the course of the strike, 17 strikers passed away and 107 children were born.
*Culinary Union members played an instrumental role in Senator Harry Reid’s re-election in 1998. Senator Reid won by 401 votes.
*Maggie Carlton, a former Culinary Union coffee shop waitress and shop steward who worked at the Treasure Island Casino, is elected to Senate District 2 in 1998.
1999: Paris Las Vegas becomes union. Shop stewards and committee leaders from other union properties across the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown volunteered to organize workers about the benefits of joining the union. Through a card check neutrality agreement, a majority of Paris workers signed UNION YES cards, successfully unionizing the property. The property has been union since it opened in 1999 - YES WE DID!
2000: The 90s end with the Culinary Union experiencing phenomenal membership growth through card check neutrality agreements. In addition to the Mirage and the Excalibur, the Union organized the Treasure Island, Luxor, Monte Carlo, Mandalay Bay, Paris, and Bellagio. The Culinary Union fought for and won organizing rights at the Stratosphere, and won the right to organize the downtown Four Queens through successorship language in new contracts.
2001:
*The Culinary Union’s Citizenship Project, created in 2001, has helped over 18,000 workers through the entire process (application and preparation for the exam) to become U.S. citizens for free since it was founded. The Immigrant Workers Citizenship Project has a charitable Nevada license plate which includes a depiction of the Aztec Calendar.
*Harrah’s Corporation buys the Rio in 2001 and when the workers demand card check neutrality, the company decided to hire union busters and fight. After nearly two years of organizing, workers win a card check neutrality agreement and a Culinary Union contract.
*The Culinary Pharmacy, founded in 2001, was the first free-standing pharmacy in the country. With approximately 500,000 prescriptions dispensed each year, the Culinary “Free” Pharmacy is one of the busiest pharmacies in Nevada. All generic drugs at the Culinary Pharmacy are completely free to Culinary Union members and their immediate family members who are eligible participants.
*After 9/11 attacks, nearly 15,000 Las Vegas workers are laid off in 2001, and the Culinary Union creates Helping Hand, a massive relief project to provide support to laid-off workers.
2002:
*D. Taylor, former President of UNITE HERE International Union, is elected Secretary-Treasurer of Culinary Union and Geoconda Argüello-Kline is elected President of the Culinary Union in 2002.
*Over 25,000 union members voted on May 16, 2002, to approve a strike with major employers on the Strip and Downtown. Shortly after, contracts were settled and included new language to protect Culinary Union health insurance and ensure that over 11,000 housekeepers had safer workloads and better working conditions. A 10-day strike at the Golden Gate was successful when workers fought and won a strong contract.
*Peggy Pierce, a former Culinary Union banquet food server and shop steward who worked at the Desert Inn, is elected to Assembly District 3 in 2002.
2004: The Culinary Union won card check neutrality for the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood after workers fight for their rights in a tough battle with the company for nearly four years before securing a union contract.
2005: The Culinary Union successfully negotiates card check neutrality for Wynn Casino. With the addition of Encore, the property becomes the largest Culinary Union bargaining unit in Las Vegas with over 5,500 members.
2007:
*MGM/Mirage Resorts workers vote in 2007 to authorize a strike over the right to organize the massive new development, City Center. The Culinary Union wins a great contract including card check neutrality for the development, and creates the Tip Earner Defense Fund, and the Culinary and Bartenders Housing Fund.
*The Tip Earner Defense Fund was created in 2007 to assist tip workers who have had issues with IRS audits due to tipped income or inappropriate IRS allocation amounts. The Tip Fund also holds education seminars throughout the year to inform workers on how to properly keep tip records.
*Over 1,700 Culinary Union members have bought their first homes with help from the Culinary and Bartenders Housing Fund, established in 2007, which has provided $12.8 million in down payment assistance and closing costs.
2008: UNITE HERE, the international hospitality workers union, of which the Culinary Union is the largest affiliate, became the first labor union in the country to endorse then Senator Barack Obama, and Culinary Union members delivered Nevada for President Obama on Election Day.
2008-2009: The Culinary Union implements Helping Hand, a massive relief effort to provide support for thousands of laid-off workers during the The Great Recession.
2012:
*Geoconda Argüello-Kline, a Nicaraguan immigrant, and a former guest room attendant at the Fitzgerald’s Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, is elected as the first Latina leader of the Culinary Union. Arguello-Kline serves as Executive Vice President of UNITE HERE and is a board member of the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, the Citizenship Project, the Culinary Health Fund, and the Culinary and Bartenders’ Pension Fund. Ted Pappageorge, a former bartender at the Horseshoe, is elected President.
*110 union workers took a leave-of-absence from their jobs to work with the 2012 Culinary Union’s Political Team to register and turn out members and their families to vote – approximately 70,000 voters across Clark County are credited to the Culinary Union’s massive get-out-the-vote effort and delivered Nevada for President Obama again. Steven Horsford, former CEO of the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, is elected as the representative for Congressional District 4.
2013: Citywide negotiations for 50,000 workers extend for almost 2 years and 10,000 (primarily downtown Las Vegas) workers vote to authorize a strike before the final contracts are settled.
2014: The Culinary Union partnered with UNLV’s Public History Program and University Libraries to present an historical exhibit, “Line in the Sand: The People, Power, and Progress of the Culinary Union” to the community. Exhibit details: www.UNLVPublicHistory.com/Culinary.
2015:
*After a four-year organizing campaign, the Culinary Union negotiates and wins a first contract with the Cosmopolitan in 2015.
*The Culinary Union donated a historical photo collection of an estimated 32,000 images, film negatives, and slides to the UNLV University Libraries in 2015. This extensive collection has been curated, digitized, and preserved. A wide selection of images from the collection are available online for community members, students, and researchers around the world.
2016:
*January: Yvanna Cancela, former Culinary Union political director, is appointed to Senate District 10.
*October-November: 300 UNITE HERE and Culinary Union members took a two month leave-of-absence from their hotel and casino jobs and knocked on over 350,000 doors, talked to over 75,000 voters, and delivered 54,000 early votes as political organizers.
*December: Trump workers fight for and win a great first Culinary Union contract at Trump Hotel Las Vegas.
2017:
*Culinary Health Fund unveiled an innovative, high-quality, multi-service Culinary Health Center designed to provide increased access to primary, preventative, pediatric, urgent, dental, and vision care to tens of thousands of eligible Las Vegas Culinary Health Fund members. Second location of a Culinary “Free” Pharmacy opens at the Health Center. Culinary “Free” Pharmacy #2, which dispenses generic drugs for free, is the busiest pharmacy in Nevada.
*The Culinary Union fought for and won first-in-the-nation legislation - Senate Bill 539 (SB539) which was signed into law June 15, 2017. The bill includes groundbreaking provisions championed by State Senator Yvanna Cancela such as requiring manufacturers of insulin to report costs of producing and marketing diabetes drugs, and requiring pharmaceutical sales representatives to report interactions with doctors – who they visited and what gifts they gave annually.
*After a decade of fighting for card check neutrality at Stations Casinos and despite a tremendous anti-union campaign by the company, workers win the right for union representation through National Labor Board Elections at Boulder, Palace, Green Valley Ranch, and Palms.
2018:
2018 CONTRACT FIGHT: A citywide strike vote was held May 22, 2018 at the Thomas and Mack Arena, with 25,000 workers voting YES to authorize a strike if casino companies didn’t settle.
*The Culinary Union won the strongest and most comprehensive immigration, sexual harassment, automation & technology protections, and safety language in the history of any union in the United States in an aggressive year of contract negotiations for 50,000 workers.
*The new 5-year contract protects immigrants who have Temporary Protected Status and DACA, equipped thousands of workers in the city with Wi-Fi-enabled safety buttons, has the strongest economic package ever negotiated with the highest wage increases and healthcare and pension benefits for workers.
*The Culinary Union and Bartenders Unions Legal Service Fund is established in 2018. The program, which includes a team of attorneys and advocates at Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, provide a range of legal services to hotel, casino, and other eligible employees to help safeguard the economic and legal wellbeing of those employees and their families. The Legal Service Fund can provide FREE legal assistance in the following areas: Immigration matters, simple estate planning, tenant’s rights and evictions, debt collection and related legal issues, chapter 7 bankruptcy consultations, criminal record sealing, family law forms, and more.
2018 MIDTERM ELECTIONS: The UNITE HERE Culinary Union’s organizing program is the largest political effort in Nevada and was comprised of 350 workers who have taken a union contracted leave-of-absence from their hospitality jobs to talk to their coworkers everyday by phone, in employee dining rooms on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas, and on the doors in neighborhoods in Washoe and Las Vegas – a field program unmatched by any other in the country. By the end of Election Day, the Culinary Union’s political field team knocked on over 370,000 doors in Las Vegas and Reno and had quality one-on-on conversations with approximately 80,000 voters across Nevada statewide.
*Jacky Rosen, a former Culinary Union cocktail waitress who worked at Caesars Palace Casino, was elected to the United States Senate.
2019:
*Bea Duran, a former Culinary Union food server who worked at the Four Queens Casino, was appointed to Assembly District 11.
*The Culinary Union won union contracts at: Circus Circus Reno, Reno Airport, Waldorf Astoria, Hard Rock Las Vegas, Amex Lounge at McCarran Airpot, Vdara, Cosmopolitan, and Hilton Grand Vacations.
*Workers at Sunset Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson voted to unionize in a National Labor Relation Bard secret-ballot election. Workers at eight Station Casinos’ Las Vegas properties are fighting for a union contract: Boulder Station (September 2016), Palace Station (March 2017), Green Valley Ranch (November 2017), Palms (April 2018), Sunset Station (June 2019), Fiesta Rancho (June 2019), Fiesta Henderson (September 2019), Red Rock Resort (December 2019).
*The Culinary Union was proud to host the UNITE HERE Convention in Las Vegas. Over a thousand UNITE HERE members, who were in Las Vegas for the convention, joined Culinary Union members and Palms workers to picket as Palms workers fight for a union contract.
*2019 NEVADA LEGISLATIVE SESSION
13 bills that the Culinary Union supported and fought to win over the course of the 2019 Nevada Legislature were delivered to Governor Steve Sisolak and signed into law. Legislation that the Culinary Union advocated to implement range from ending surprise bills, expanding healthcare transparency, increasing patient protections, strengthening worker rights, criminal justice reform, and supporting immigrants in Nevada.
-HEALTHCARE:
*AB469 – “Ending Surprise Bills” protected patients in Nevada by taking them out of the middle between providers and payers. The Culinary Union is proud to have fought for over 15 years to end surprise bills and we thank Governor Sisolak, Speaker Jason Frierson, Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, and Culinary Health Fund’s Bobbette Bond for championing this bill and fighting for nearly two decades to protect Nevadans.
*SB262 – “Asthma Transparency” prevented price gouging for asthma medications. The Culinary Union applauds Senator Yvanna Cancela for championing SB262 and is proud to have fought alongside her since the 2017 Legislative session to increase transparency protections to Nevadans who have diabetes or asthma.
*SB276 – “Prescription Drug Structure Study” created a study of drug pricing to identify how to reduce the price of prescriptions. The Culinary Union supported Senator Cancela’s plan to use this study to look at how other states have been able to reduce Medicaid drug costs.
*SB378 – “Stop Big Pharma Price Gouging” provided transparency on high-cost brand, bio-similar, and generic drugs and make them affordable at fair rates. This bill is first in the nation legislation. It’s an incredible bill and the Culinary Union fought to make it the strongest possible.
*SB544 – “Patient Protection Commission” - In the 2019 Nevada Legislative session, the Culinary Union fought for and won legislation to establish the Patient Protection Commission, a group of health care industry experts and patient advocates - including Bobbette Bond from the Culinary Health Fund - appointed by the Governor. The Patient Protection Commission is a victory for working families as its goals are to protect patients from getting ripped off as the price of healthcare rises every day.
*AB232 – “Protecting Nevadans and visitors from non-Medicaid/Medicare contracted Emergency Rooms.” AB232 required all hospitals* to accept Medicare payments. This important legislation will protect Nevada hospitals and patients. It will also ensure patients have access to medical care when they need it. *Other than psychiatric, critical access, and rural hospitals.
*AB317 – “Smart Healthcare Growth” ensured Nevadans get the care they need when they need it, while protecting patients from expensive care the community doesn’t need.
-WORKER RIGHTS:
*SB135 – “Collective bargaining for AFSCME state employees.” State workers were fighting for collective bargaining for Nevada communities including improved safety at correctional facilities, better nurse-to-patient ratios at state hospitals and improved state services. The Culinary Union was proud to stand with AFSCME Local 4041 members to win collective bargaining.
-CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM:
*AB356 – allowed the wrongfully convicted to present new evidence of innocence when it is discovered, beyond the two-year time limit. The Culinary Union advocated for AB356 and AB267 as part of the “Nevada Coalition for the Wrongfully Convicted,” a group of civil rights, legal, and faith-based organizations.
*AB267 – provided exonerees with services and financial payments for each year of wrongful imprisonment. The Culinary Union thanks sponsors Assemblyman Steve Yeager (AB267) and Assemblyman William McCurdy (AB356) for fighting to fix flaws in Nevada’s justice system and making things right for the wrongfully convicted.
-OTHER IMPORTANT BILLS:
*AB50 – Moved Municipal elections to even numbered years.
*SB151 – Increased renter’s rights by: 1) ending abusive practices of unlimited late fees on rent, 2) mandated that renters are actually served eviction notices, and 3) ensured dignity and fairness for tenants.
*SB538 – Office for New Americans. The Culinary Union fully supported the creation of the Office of New Americans, which help immigrant communities find the support and assistance needed to keep thriving in Nevada.
2020:
*The Culinary Union’s Grievance Department has worked on over 25,000 cases and won $15 million in wages and back pay for workers who have been fired or suspended unfairly since 2014.
*98% of 60,000 Culinary Union members were furloughed during the casino closures from March 17 - June 4th, 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Culinary Union was the first organization in Nevada to call for a mask mandate in early May 2020, fought to have health care benefits and access to health care for workers and their families extended (even for workers who were laid off), partnered with Culinary Academy of Las Vegas to once again implement the Helping Hand program to provide over 430,000 packages of food to furloughed workers and Nevadans, helped thousands of workers sign up for unemployment benefits, secured workers’ right to return to their jobs (SB386) when business resumes, advocated for several eviction moratoria, and passed the first and only-in-the-nation COVID-19 worker safety statewide law (SB4) during a special session of the Nevada Legislature.
*Senate Bill 4, the Adolfo Fernandez law, protects over 280,000 hospitality workers in Clark County and Washoe. Adolfo Fernandez, contracted COVID-19 after being employed as a utility porter on the Las Vegas Strip, and passed away in late June 2020.
The worker provisions in the Senate Bill 4 are the result of five months of the Culinary Union having thousands of one-on-one conversations with workers, two different car caravans on the Las Vegas Strip with over 10,000 Nevadans participating, dozens of public comment before the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission, and drafting, researching, and consulting with experts on the health and safety language in the Bill.
Senate Bill 4 is a first-in-the-nation legislation that will protect all workers in the hospitality industry in Las Vegas and Reno - wall-to-wall, front-of-the house and back-of-the house, union and non-union, worker and manager - from the Bellagio to Motel 6. A majority of workers covered by this law are not unionized.
Behind every worker in this state there is a family and the Culinary Union is proud to have won the best safety standards for all workers in the state’s largest industry.
*The Culinary Union, the strongest political force in the state, ran the largest political program in its history and delivered Nevada for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 500 UNITE HERE and Culinary Union hospitality workers knocked on 500,000 doors in Las Vegas and Reno and talked to 130,000 voters (in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, and Amharic). Canvassers spoke to over 42,400 eligible voters who did not vote for 2016, and knocked on the doors of half of the Black and Latinx voters in Nevada.
2021:
*NVLEG 2021: 21 bills that the Culinary Union supported and fought to win over the course of the 2021 Nevada Legislature were delivered to Governor Steve Sisolak and signed into law. Legislation that the Culinary Union advocated to implement included: Addressing housing affordability, increasing regulations on short term rentals and party houses, election and criminal justice reforms, eviction and immigration protections, and Right to Return (SB386).
SB209: Expand paid leave & prepare for next public health crisis
SB340: Empowering home care workes to organize
SB50: Limiting no-knock warrants
SB122: Cannabis worker safety
AB195: ELL Bill of Rights
AB286: Ban ghost guns
AB321: Permanent mail-in voting
AB376: Keep Nevada Families Working Act
AB486: Emergency pandemic eviction protections
SB329: Protect competition in Nevada health care
AB278: Physician employement and ownership transparency
AB348: Retool Patient Protection Commission
AB222: Fighting workplace discrimination
SB380: Requiring reporting on critical drug supply chain participants
SB396: Rein in out-of-control prescription drug prices
AB126: First-in-the-nation primary
SB186: Protect against HOA discrimination
SB363: Implment regulations for short-term rentals
AB141: Pandemic eviction sealing
AB435: Protecting convention business
*After a 13-month intensive campaign, the Nevada Legislature passed SB386 Right to Return at the end of the 2021 Session. The bill was signed into law by Governor Steve Sisolak on Tuesday, June 8, 2021.
The Culinary Union applauded Governor Steve Sisolak for his leadership and for signing SB386 into law, and commended Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, Speaker Jason Frierson, and Democrats in the Nevada Legislature on the passage of the legislation which protected over 350,000 hospitality workers in Clark County and Washoe. While a majority of Culinary Union members already have extended recall protections in their contracts, most hospitality workers protected by SB386 are not unionized and work in casinos owned and operated by Station Casinos and other non-union gaming companies. Republican members of the Nevada Legislature shamefully refused to stand with their constituents who are front-line essential hospitality workers and voted against Right to Return at every opportunity.
*The United States District Court in Nevada ordered an extraordinary 10(j) injunction against Station Casinos’ Red Rock Casino in July 2021 for their outrageous conduct during the December 2019 National Labor Board Relations (NLRB) union election at the property. The federal court imposed a rare 10(j) bargaining order against Station Casinos, which mandates that the company must recognize the Culinary and Bartenders Unions as the official bargaining representatives at Red Rock Casino. In the Culinary Union’s 86-years, the Culinary Union has never been granted a 10(j) bargaining order.
*The Culinary Union continued to support workers every step of the way during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Culinary Union held virtual town halls in English and Spanish with thousands of workers in 2021 to hear directly from doctors, Immunize Nevada, Governor Steve Sisolak, Culinary Health Fund, and health care professionals, to directly answer questions hospitality workers have about the vaccine, side effects, and fact checking myths. Over the course of the pandemic, the Culinary Union has sent out hundreds of thousands of emails/texts messages educating Culinary Union members and Station Casinos workers about the vaccine, notifying hospitality workers when they were newly eligible for the vaccine, informing employees about specific on-site vaccination opportunities at work, letting the community know when special vaccination events are available, and encouraging hospitality workers to get the COVID-19 vaccines as they are safe, proven, and effective.
*200 Culinary and Bartenders Union members and/or their immediate family members have died from COVID-19, with 1,624 hospitalized due to the virus since March 1, 2020 - March 1, 2022. May their memories be a blessing. As we remember the loved ones lost, the Culinary Union will carry on the work every day to make Nevada a place where working families continue to organize and win for our collective liberation.
2022:
Despite the challenges of recovering from the pandemic, Culinary Union hit the streets as hospitality workers fought for a contract, protected union and non-union workers by passing SB386 Right to Return into law, and supported workers who sued Station Casinos for violating the SB386 Right to Return law.
Culinary Union also took on the IRS over unfair TIP allocation rates, launched the Neighborhood Stability campaign to ensure more Nevadans aren't pushed out of their homes, and made history by running the largest and strong political program in Nevada to deliver Democratic control of the US Senate!
During the 2022 Midterms, Culinary Union has surpassed previous and historic numbers by running the largest and strongest political program in Nevada. Statewide, 450 Culinary Union canvassers knocked on over 1 million doors and had over 175,000 conversations with voters. The political team knocked on the doors of more than half of Black and Latinx voters and more than a third of the AAPI voters in Reno and Las Vegas. The average Culinary Union canvasser knocked on 60+ doors during their shift, with the entire team knocked on 20,000+ doors in Las Vegas and Reno everyday, 6-7 days a week since March 2022.
From organizing and direct action to political advocacy, the Culinary Union remains a powerful force for workers in Nevada.
2023:
*As one the largest organization of parents in Nevada, the Culinary Union launched campaign to engage with voters about support for increased youth mental health funding and education during the 2023 Nevada Legislative Session. Nevada State Lottery (AJR5): A constitutional provision that would enable the creation of the Nevada State Lottery and allocate the revenue towards youth mental health programs in the school and/or the community. AJR5 must pass again in 2025 to move forward.
*A number of state legislative Democrats joined all Republicans and voted to repeal daily room cleaning in Senate Bill 441. SB441 was signed into law by Governor Joe Lombardo and hurt guest room attendants and our jobs. Culinary Union declined to endorse politicians who voted to pass SB441 in the 2024 Primary and 2024 General election.
*On May 2, 2023, Culinary Union’s Culinary Health Fund proudly unveiled a second cutting-edge, multi-faceted Culinary Health Center - Durango in the Southwest Valley, which was designed to provide increased access to primary and preventative care to tens of thousands of eligible Culinary and Bartenders Union members and their families. The brand new facility is located at 6392 South Durango Drive Las Vegas, Nevada 89148.
*In September 2023, Culinary Union launched a campaign to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers and a website, UnionEats.org that is available in English and Spanish. The Culinary Union is actively engaging in outreach to restaurant workers who are employed in and around unionized casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. The website features the organizing drives at Alexxa’s and now Citizens. The website also lists over 360 union restaurants so customers can support restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas by patronizing unionized establishments where workers are treated with dignity, have fair wages, job security, great health care benefits, and respect on-the-job.
*On September 26, 2023, Culinary Union members voted by 95% to authorize a Citywide Strike after tens of thousands of hospitality workers packed the Thomas and Mack Center on campus at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas in two sessions to cast their votes.
Citywide Contract Fight: After 7 months of intense negotiations, and under the looming threat of the largest hospitality worker strike in U.S. history, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions settled contracts for 50,000 unionized hospitality workers in Las Vegas.
In negotiations, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions won historic victories for workers including:
*Securing the largest wage increases ever negotiated in the Culinary Union’s 89-year-history. The total compensation won by the Culinary Union for over 50,000 is approximately $3 billion over the total five-year contract. Every worker will be getting a 10% wage increase in the first year and a total of 32% in raises over the life of the new contract. The average Culinary Union member earned about $28 an hour (including their benefits) under the previous contract, and by the end of this new five-year contract, the average Culinary Union member will be earning about $37 an hour (including their benefits).
*Reducing workload and steep housekeeping room quotas, daily room cleaning, and establishing the right for guest room attendants to securely work in set areas.
*Providing the best on-the-job safety protections for all classifications, including safety committees, expanding the use of safety buttons to more workers, penalties if safety buttons don’t work, enforcing mandatory room checks for employee and public safety, and tracking sexual harassment, assault, and criminal behavior by customers.
*Strengthens existing technology protections to guarantee advanced notification when new technology is introduced (which would impact jobs) including technologies with artificial intelligence, increases service recognition pay and extended health care and pension fund contributions for workers who are laid off because of new technology, requires training for new jobs created by technology, introduces the right to bargain over technology that tracks the location of employees, requires notification and opportunity to bargain regarding data sharing, and establishes right to compensation for tipped employees if necessary infrastructure for technology fails resulting in a tipped employee who is unable to do their job.
*Extending recall rights so that workers have more job security and have the right to return to their jobs in the event of another pandemic or economic crisis for up to three-years.
*Making clear at MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment properties that the no-strike clause does not prevent the Culinary Union and its members from taking action, including picketing and leafleting in support of non-union restaurants at the Casinos; and allows non-union restaurant workers to leaflet in front of their venues inside the casino. At Wynn Resorts, making clear that the no-strike clause does not prevent the Culinary Union from taking action, including strikes, against non-union restaurants on the casino property, and gives casino workers the right to respect picket lines.
2024:
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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 45% 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 for working families in Nevada for 88 years.