You’re not imagining it: The working class of America is revolting. Teachers’ unions are bringing some long overdue attention to low pay and underfunded schools. Workers in Tesla factories were fired for whispering about unionizing to improve working conditions.
And now in Las Vegas – a city practically defined by the gap between those with money and those without – casino workers are staging a strike of their own. The fight for a New “New Deal” is coming to Sin City.
Democracy in Motion
In May 2018, unions representing bartenders and culinary workers throughout Las Vegas voted practically unanimously to strike in June 2018 if necessary. The unions held two rounds of voting and received 25,000 votes from members. Of the votes cast, 99 percent were in favor of a citywide hospitality business workers’ strike beginning Friday, June 1.
This democratic exercise marks the expiration of union labor contracts on May 31. These contracts help define life and livelihood for more than 50,000 Las Vegas service workers. On June 1, if management and labor haven't yet hammered out mutually agreeable changes to these contracts, 50,000 working-class Americans are prepared to strike for the treatment, security and remuneration they deserve.
Who are These Union Members and What Do They Want?
The types of businesses that will be affected by the strike are numerous and wide-ranging. Las Vegas is home to practically innumerable luxury, gambling, lodging and entertainment venues. It takes tens of thousands of human beings to keep all of it running smoothly on a daily basis, which means quite a few businesses will suffer if negotiations overrun the June 1 deadline and they have to shut their doors. We're talking some of the big names like MGM Resorts, Penn National, Boyd Gaming, Caesars, Golden Gaming and many others.
The types of workers involved in the strike include bartenders, housekeeping and room attendants, cocktail and restaurant servers, hotel porters, chefs, kitchen staff and cashiers. The strike affects businesses up and down the Las Vegas Strip as well as downtown Las Vegas.
What’s at stake here specifically? The incoming wave of automation in Vegas, along with appropriate job security provisions in the new contracts, are top-of-mind for the unions involved in the strike.
“A strike is a last resort,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline of the culinary union. “We support innovations that improve jobs, but we oppose automation when it only destroys jobs. Our industry must innovate without losing the human touch.”
But automation is just the tip of the iceberg. The unions are also hoping for:
• Improved workplace commitments to worker safety and a stronger stance on workplace harassment.
• A humanistic approach to the rollout of automated technologies.
• Stronger legal language concerning subcontracting.
• A fairer share of Las Vegas business profits and a larger share of the so-called GOP tax “windfall.”
The last time a strike hit Las Vegas businesses on a citywide scale was 1984. That demonstration lasted a full 67 days and crippled every branch of the Vegas hospitality industry. The unions involved in the current citywide strike are members of UNITE HERE, a large organization that represents the interests of about 270,000 entertainment and hospitality workers across the North American continent.
Unions often get a bad rap nowadays, but their establishment is one of the most important and historic events that changed America for the better. Unionization keeps the higher ups in check and ensures a standard for the fair treatment of America’s workers – something that's almost constantly being jeopardized, and has been for most of our history.
So the Vegas strike – like the nationwide teachers strike that is still in motion – is a reminder of the hugely important roles unions still must play in the fair treatment of workers in this country and beyond. It comes at a vital time, as the U.S. Supreme Court has just invoked very old laws to sabotage workers’ abilities to, as the New Deal put it, band together for “mutual aid or protection.”
In Solidarity
It’s worth repeating that the Vegas strike will only occur if workers’ contracts are allowed to expire on May 31 without a successful negotiation of new contracts that address workers’ needs and demands. According to Bethany Khan, communications director for UNITE HERE Culinary Workers Union Local 226, “There are no settlements yet, and negotiations and strike preparation continue. We will keep fighting to protect workers and make sure that the people who run Las Vegas hospitality aren’t left behind as corporations make record profits.”
Of course, a strike means nothing without the popular approval of the people. Both the Bartenders and Culinary unions are spreading the word among elected state officials, political hopefuls and, of course, the thousands of tourists who visit Vegas daily. Their goal: to get people to stay away from visiting or patronizing those businesses in question if the strike proceeds as anticipated on June 1.
Interested parties can consult the Culinary Union’s Vegas Travel Alert page at any point to see whether travel to Las Vegas will be impacted by labor negotiations and work stoppages. Run by the largest union in Nevada, the page helps ensure that conventions, tourists and business leaders can plan around possible labor disputes whenever they prove necessary.
The impending strike is noteworthy even at a time when labor stoppages are bringing life to a halt in all corners of the country. In fact, for many, it’s a victory alone that 99 percent of workers voted to carry out the strike in the first place. If America’s teachers helped strike the match in several states already, then the hospitality workers of Vegas and across North America stand prepared to carry the torch. Could it be the start of a freshly invigorated workers rights movement in the U.S. emerging to address runaway income inequality and the threats of automation? Because it certainly looks like one from here.
