Culinary Union Begins New Round of Contract Talks with Local Gaming Companies

[Omaha Steve]

Source: KLAS-TV

One of the most powerful unions in Las Vegas is not letting up the pressure on big casinos.

This week the Culinary Union will begin a new round of contract talks with several gaming companies. The outcome of negotiations will affect thousands of local families. The union is 60-thousand members strong and 31-thousand are working without a permanent contract, including 21-thousand M-G-M Mirage employees.

These talks affect a lot of workers, including waitresses, bartenders, cooks, and housekeepers. The Culinary Union will start discussions on Wednesday on behalf of workers at the Riviera, Stratosphere, Las Vegas Hilton and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville at the Flamingo. Union leaders say talks at the Tropicana were supposed to begin Tuesday, but they've been postponed.

The Culinary Union is demanding better pay and benefits. The powerful union won a huge victory last month. It reached a big deal with Harrah's entertainment. 15-thousand Harrah's workers will get the largest wage and benefit increase in the history of the union. M-G-M Mirage employees, still without a new contract took to the streets last month, hoping the Harrah's deal would put pressure on M-G-M Mirage. But so far, the negotiations are at a standstill. The Culinary Union says this could be a "cooling off" period for the gaming giant.


Read more: http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6823659