Las Vegas casino workers set Nov. 10 deadline for major strike

Tens of thousands of Las Vegas-based casino workers are set to walk off their jobs if several casino giants don’t reach a deal with their union by the end of next week. 

The Culinary Union on Thursday announced an impeding strike deadline of Nov. 10 for 35,000 hospitality workers who work for MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn/Encore Resorts, the three largest private employers in the Las Vegas area. 

The union said in a press release that it’s been negotiating a new 5-year contract with the three companies since April, noting that union members who work at 18 casino resorts among the three employers have been working under an expired contract since Sept. 15 and are at risk of a major labor dispute.

The union also said 95 percent of its members voted in favor of authorizing a citywide strike against the three companies. 

The announcement comes as a series of strikes has affected the automotive, delivery, health care and entertainment industries across the country this year. 

Culinary Union members are asking for their new contract to include more benefits, such as wage increases, providing the best on-the-job safety protections for all classifications, and strengthening existing technology protections to guarantee advanced notification when new technology is introduced that would impact jobs, according to the press release.

“We don’t feel safe on the casino floor,” Bellagio cocktail waitress Leslie Lilla told The Associated Press in an interview. “We need enhanced security. We need emergency buttons in our service bars. We want to be protected, as well as for our guests.”

“This is our time. This is the labor movement’s time,” Lilla added. “We know that we can’t be a society where it’s just upper class and lower class. There’s got to be a middle. Unions create that middle class.”

The union, formed in 1935, also announced that it has reached a card-check neutrality agreement with the Las Vegas Grand Prix Inc. and Liberty Media, which will guarantee workers at the pit building have the right to organize and form a union. 

Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend is scheduled to begin Nov. 15, according to the AP.

The Associated Press contributed.