More than a year of labor strife was ended when the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and the Culinary Workers Local 226 reached a four-year labor contract agreement on December 1.
Contract terms were not announced, the casino and union in a joint statement said workers voted to approve the contract with the Cosmopolitan’s new owner, the Blackstone private equity firm.
The deal covers 2,000 casino workers, and includes a deal with the Bartenders Union Local 165.
The Cosmopolitan has 2,959 rooms and opened in December 2010, and it was one of the few remaining Strip casinos that did not have a labor agreement in place.
A majority of Cosmopolitan workers indicated support for organizing and engaging in collective bargaining and in 2013 began staging protests to gain union representation.
When Blackstone bought the casino, labor negotiations renewed in 2014, resulting in the four-year collective bargaining agreement announced this month.
Although an initial contract agreement is in place, workers still must ratify it with an affirmative vote, which union officials expect to be done by the end of December.
