As MGM Resorts is reeling from a computer hack that’s virtually shut down the establishment, specifically the slot machines, which has cost them $8 million per day, Las Vegas is facing a new issue: a labor strike. Union members voted heavily in the affirmative on a work stoppage should a new contract with the chains fail to materialize. CBS News reported that 22 casinos along the strip would be impacted in a worst-case scenario.
Still, unlike Hollywood studios or the major car manufacturers, the resorts in Vegas are confident that a new contract can be hashed out, owing to their productive working relationship with the food and beverage workers. The demands are not unusual: salary increases, adjustments for more flexible workload management, and more on-the-job safety protections (via CBS News):
Sin City is known for its extravagance. But behind the scenes are the tens of thousands who cook the meals, mix the drinks and clean the suites.
On Tuesday, they filled the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where members of both the Culinary Workers Union and its sister union, the Bartenders Union, voted by a 95% margin in favor of authorizing a strike if a new five-year labor deal is not reached.
The strike authorization applies to about 40,000 of the 60,000 members who make up the Culinary Workers and Bartenders unions across Nevada, the organizations said in a news release.
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"Rents being jacked up through the roof," said Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union. "...The cost of gas, the cost of groceries, the cost of electricity. So folks need a raise."
Three major hotel chains are negotiating with the unions. Talks are scheduled for next week.
MGM Resorts told CBS News in a statement Wednesday that it has a "decades-long history of bargaining successfully with the Las Vegas Culinary & Bartenders Unions. We continue to have productive meetings with the union and believe both parties are committed to negotiating a contract that is good for everyone."
Wynn Resorts said in a statement that it "has historically had a positive and cordial working relationship with labor unions and has always reached satisfactory agreements with each," calling its employees "the heart and soul of Wynn."
Everyone is going on strike nowadays. Will Sin City be next?