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Unions representing hospitality workers in Las Vegas reached a tentative agreement Wednesday with one of the city’s three largest resort operators, two days before a strike deadline that loomed just as tourists arrive for a major international sporting event.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which are affiliates of Unite Here, announced the tentative agreement on a five-year contract with Caesars Entertainment, but did not provide details.
The culinary union said the deal was reached after 20 hours of negotiations and affected 10,000 workers. Caesars said in a statement that the agreement would provide “meaningful wage increases consistent with our past performance, along with continued growth opportunities tied to our future plans to bring more union jobs to the Las Vegas Strip.”
The two unions said last week that 35,000 members would walk out of their jobs on Friday at 18 hotels along The Strip owned by Caesars, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts, posing a major threat to the city’s economy.
Negotiations with MGM and Wynn are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. The contracts for housekeepers, bartenders, cooks and food servers at the three companies expired on September 15, after being extended from a June deadline.
Caesars properties in Las Vegas include Caesars Forum, Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Horseshoe, Paris, Planet Hollywood, The Cromwell and The Linq.
The local unions have been negotiating with the resorts since April over demands that include higher wages, more safety protections and stronger recall rights, protections that prioritize rehiring laid-off workers, such as those laid off during the pandemic lockdowns or economic decline.
In September, the union approved a strike vote, with 95 percent support. More recently, workers have been stationed outside major hotels under palm trees in 80-degree heat with signs reading “One job should be enough,” referring to low wages.
During a series of ongoing strikes beginning in July, thousands of housekeepers, receptionists, and other hospitality workers at various Southern California hotels have been on strike at various times; in Michigan, workers at MGM Grand Detroit have been on strike since mid-October.
“No one wants to strike,” Ted Pappageorge, the head of Local 226, said at a news conference Tuesday. Mr. Pappageorge said striking deals with the big three chains — the largest in Nevada — was like “landing three planes at the same time.”
“We have three very large global companies,” he said, adding that cautiously optimistic agreements would be reached.
As Las Vegas prepared for the impact of a strike, crews began closing roads and erecting grandstands near The Strip, which will serve as the track for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, a major international auto race .
The National Finals Rodeo is scheduled for two weeks in early December.
For years, the Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 Nevada hospitality workers, has been a powerful political force, seen as a critical base for Democratic candidates in the state and nationally. In 2020, union members’ ground operation and door-knocking campaign helped Joseph R. Biden Jr. to a narrow victory in the state.
Ahead of his re-election campaign next year, President Biden trailed former President Donald J. Trump by 10 percentage points in the state in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll.
During a trip last month, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the culinary union’s headquarters and praised workers as the “true champions for working people.”
Lynnette Curtis reporting contributed.
