Approximately 40,000 Las Vegas Strip non-gaming union workers from Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment have ratified new five-year collective bargaining agreements that will include a combined 32 percent wage bump over the course of the contracts.
The new deals, which were negotiated by the Culinary Workers Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 unions over the course of the last seven months, were announced just days and hours before the workers were set to strike on November 17.
Union representatives did not disclose vote totals but did confirm that voting members from all three operators ratified the agreements with 99 percent majorities.
Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said that workers will see 10 percent wage increases during the first year of the new deals, which will then increase to a total of 32 percent by the end of the contracts, meaning that the average wage will climb to a total of $37 per hour. The overall compensation for the union workers across the three companies will come to $2 billion.
“We recognize the largest private employers in Nevada for doing the right thing and investing in the frontline workers who make the entire industry run successfully,” Pappageorge said in a statement.
In addition to pay and benefit raises, workers also secured several other provisions, including the reintroduction of daily room cleaning—which became one of the most contentious debates in the negotiations—as well as safety protections and language regarding certain technologies.
Now that the “Big 3” have agreed to terms, the unions will move on to forging new deals with the operators of 24 other properties throughout the city, which cover a combined 15,000 workers.
