Culinary Union Authorizes a Strike Against 10 Casinos

Downtown casinos will have to hold their collective breath to see if members of the Culinary and Bartenders unions will walk off their jobs. Union members voted Thursday to authorize a strike against 10 Las Vegas Downtown casinos five weeks after the unions gave notice to end contract extensions that had been in place since June.

A Culinary Workers Union Local 26 press release says that more than 99 percent of union members from the 10 properties voted to authorize a strike. That means the unions can now call for a strike at any time against these properties until they have new contracts.

Binion's, Fremont, Four Queens, El Cortez, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, Las Vegas Club, Las Vegas Plaza, Main Street Station and the D Las Vegas, along with workers at Brady Linen Services, which provides laundry services for resorts on the Strip, and Margaritaville are now on notice.

The unions recently concluded negotiations for new five-year contracts covering more than 37,000 workers on the Las Vegas Strip, where union contracts expired last June. Union members voted last May to raise monthly dues by $25 if there is a strike.

The last strike in Vegas was in 1991, when workers picketed in front of the now-defunct Frontier for more than six years.
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