LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Thousands of hospitality workers could potentially approve a strike by the end of the month.
On Thursday, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions announced they have scheduled a Strike Vote for Tuesday, Sept. 26 at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center.
According to the unions, 53,000 hospitality workers' contracts are up this year. They add there have been multiple rounds of negotiations with employers on the Strip like MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, and the Wynn and Encore Resorts as well as employers in Downtown Las Vegas including Circa, the Golden Nugget, and Binion's.
However, union officials state there is no tentative agreement in place for a new five-year contract.
"We are negotiating for the best contract ever in the Culinary Union's history to ensure that one job is enough. Companies are generating record profits and we demand that workers aren't left behind and have a fair share of that success," said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. "As companies reduce labor, there are less workers who have even more responsibilities and are doing more work instead of spending quality time with their families, and that has to change."
Union officials said some of the things they are proposing for the new contract includes wage increases, mandating daily room cleaning and reducing the workload for housekeeping room quotas, expanding the use of safety buttons to more workers, more security personnel in casinos, and tracking sexual harassment and assault claims by customers.
RELATED LINK: Lawmakers, Culinary Union debate daily cleaning at Nevada resorts
"Since the pandemic, there has been a difference in guest behavior and a lack of security guards to deal with problems," said Aretha Wilder, who has been a cocktail server at the Flamingo for 27 years. "Last year, there was an incident at the bar. A guest started shouting racial slurs at one of the cocktail servers who was behind the bar. He ended up spitting his drink on the waitress and trying to steal another guest's bag before leaving. We need to be better protected and safer while at work."
Another issue that was brought up includes protecting jobs and included health care and severance pay for workers who are laid off because of new technology.
"We have to think about what the next five years will bring," said LaDonna Teeters, a bartender at Park MGM. "We need to continue to have advance notice of any new technology coming into the workplace, the right to negotiate over new technology that is going to be implemented, have access to and re-training for any new jobs created because of technology, and a safety net."
According to a study published by UK researchers, about 38% to 65% of jobs in Southern Nevada are at risk of being automated in the next 10 to 15 years. That is the equivalent of up to 500,000 to 860,000 jobs.
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Back in 2018, the union asked for companies to agree to a six-month warning for workers for new technology introduced in the workplace.
"We had a huge fight about tech in our previous contract. We're going to have the same fight this time around," Pappageorge told NPR. "How do our folks make sure that the jobs that remain, that we can work them and that we're not thrown out like an old show? We're not going to stand for that."
According to the Culinary Union, the last strike across the Las Vegas Strip was in 1987 and affected 17,000 Culinary Union members. They add the strike lasted for 67 days before contracts were settled.
