Unions create that middle class.Casinos and buffets go together almost as well as Elvis and Vegas weddings. “We know that we can’t be a society where it’s just upper class and lower class. This is the labor movement’s time,” Lilla said. The union said it had been patient with the casino companies over seven months of negotiations that spurred large-scale rallies on the Strip, including one in October that brought rush-hour traffic to a halt and ended with the arrests of 58 hotel workers who sat in the street in what they described at the time as a show of force ahead of any potential strike.

We want to be protected, as well as for our guests.” We need emergency buttons in our service bars.

“We don’t feel safe on the casino floor,” veteran Bellagio cocktail waitress Leslie Lilla told The Associated Press. Hospitality workers - from bartenders and cocktail servers to kitchen employees and housekeepers - have also said they want better job security amid advancements in technology, as well as stronger security protections, including more safety buttons. She declined to say how much the union is seeking in pay raises because, she said, “we do not negotiate in public,” but the union has said it is asking for “the largest wage increases ever negotiated” in its history. Members currently receive health insurance and earn about $26 hourly, including benefits, union spokesperson Bethany Khan said. Negotiations have been underway since April over topics such as pay and working conditions. Caesars and MGM Resorts did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Wynn Resorts declined to comment. The union’s deadline comes after yet another unsuccessful round of negotiations with the three casino companies. In Las Vegas, the 18 properties that could be impacted by a strike are Aria, Bellagio, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, New York-New York, Park MGM, Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Horseshoe, Paris Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood, The Cromwell, The Linq, and Wynn and Encore Resorts. Las Vegas police arrest members of the Culinary Workers Union, in Las Vegas, on Oct. Nevada’s largest labor union, with about 60,000 members statewide, hasn’t gone on strike in decades.Ī walkout would be the latest in a series of high-profile labor unrest actions around the country - from walkouts in Hollywood to UPS’ contentious negotiations that threatened to disrupt the nation’s supply chain - and would follow hospitality workers walking off the job last month at Detroit’s three casinos, including MGM Grand Detroit. Pappageorge said the union and its members hope it doesn’t come to a strike but that “workers are prepared, united and ready to strike if necessary.”

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