Union workers at Las Vegas Strip casinos owned by MGM
Resorts International overwhelmingly approved a five-year contract Wednesday
that will affect some 26,000 waiters, bartenders, housekeepers and other
employees.
The agreement, which keeps health benefit costs flat for
union members and aims to bring back workers laid off from shuttered eateries
and belt-tightening buffets during the recession, passed with about 97 percent
approval from participating members of Culinary Union Local 226 and Bartenders
Union Local 165.
"This contract protects our benefits, and will help
bring back jobs. It's a good contract," said Carlos Almazan, a kitchen
steward at Mandalay Bay, in a statement. "I'm especially thankful to know
my healthcare will be protected."
MGM will contribute an additional 35 cents per employee, per
hour in the first year of the contract, all of which will be used to cover the
rising costs of a union-administered health benefits program. The contribution
rises to 50 cents in the second year and 55 cents in the third, while the
figure in the fourth and fifth years will be determined in further
negotiations.
Workers could see the increased contributions as more
take-home pay in the second and subsequent years of the contract, but that
depends on whether health care costs can be kept under control.
Among other provisions, the contract allows housekeepers
extra time to clean trashed hotel rooms, raises tips at banquet events from 18
percent to 19 percent by mid-2017, and requires the company give more advance
notice when a worker's immigration papers are about to expire.
The contract covers more than 21,000 union positions at
Aria, Bellagio, Circus Circus, Slots A Fun, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, The
Mirage, Monte Carlo and the New York-New York Hotel. Some of the terms would
apply to about 5,000 additional workers at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, Signature
and Vdara hotels.
Representatives from the union and MGM described the
discussions as long but successful.
"Both sides have crafted an agreement that, despite
difficult economic times, addresses the needs of Union workers and their
families as well as those of the Company," said Corey Sanders, MGM's chief
operating officer, in a statement. "We believe that's what the Unions and
the Company have achieved here: a smart contract, one that charts our Company's
future growth with the Unions."
The settlement - the first the union has struck with a Las
Vegas company since contracts expired citywide June 1 - is a major step forward
for the Culinary Union. MGM employees account for about half of the powerful
union's 55,000 members.
Cutting a deal is a win for both sides, according to David
Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas. It provides more labor certainty for MGM, he said, and is
one less thing for the company to worry about.
In September, after contracts expired and the old ones were
temporarily extended, the union issued a written warning to Wall Street
investors saying a citywide strike was possible if agreements weren't inked
soon.
The last citywide strike occurred in 1984, when more than
17,000 workers protested 32 Strip resorts.
The Culinary Union is still in negotiations with all other
casino companies except Wynn Resorts Ltd., according to spokeswoman Yvanna Cancela.
About 20,000 members still do not have a new agreement with their employers.
Source: Philly.com
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