Workers at Las Vegas’ Trump International Hotel have won union recognition after months of on-again, off-again negotiations.
“We are pleased to have a strong union contract that protects workers,” said Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for Culinary Workers Union Local 226, an affiliate of national hospitality union UNITE HERE. “We welcome the Trump Hotel Las Vegas workers to the Culinary Union family and we look forward to 2017, where we will continue fighting every day so that workers have the opportunity to provide for their families.”
Workers angered that Trump employees still didn’t have a contract months after they’d voted for unionization were some of the most dedicated in the effort to stop Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and are largely credited with helping turn the swing state of Nevada to his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
UNITE HERE called for a boycott of Trump properties nationwide in September in response to the contract negotiation delays, and the Culinary Union staged large protests and marches outside the non-gaming hotel.
“We know Trump as an employer, and that means we know what Trump would be like as a president,” said Yvanna Cancela, then-political director of the Culinary Union, in an October interview. “What he’s done at his hotel is a microcosm of what he would do if he were president. He doesn’t respect the law.”
The National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling on November 3, five days before the election, that found the hotel was engaging in unfair labor practices by failing to bargain with workers. The board ordered the hotel to negotiate, although legal experts said the case could have dragged on through the courts for years without resolution if management resisted.
Movement on the contract happened after Trump won the election. Khan said negotiations for a contract took place over three days, and the contract was unanimously approved by a vote of workers shortly after.
More than 500 housekeepers and food and beverage workers at hotel are represented by the union. Khan says the new contract will bring pay raises, a pension and health benefits comparable to those at many Las Vegas Strip casinos.
