Culinary Workers Union

Culinary Workers Union
Culinary Workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 226
FoundedNovember 1, 1935; 88 years ago (1935-11-01)[1]
Headquarters1630 S. Commerce Street
Las Vegas, Nevada
Location
Members
60,000
President
Diana Valles
Key people
Ted Pappageorge (Secretary-Treasurer)
Parent organization
UNITE HERE
AffiliationsNevada AFL–CIO
Websiteculinaryunion226.org

The Culinary Workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 226 is a local union affiliated with UNITE HERE which operates in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. Members include a variety of occupations organized along craft lines working in restaurants, hotels and laundries, in the casinos in the Las Vegas metropolitan area[2] and Reno, as well as Harry Reid International Airport and Valley Hospital Medical Center. While most Culinary members work in casinos, the union does not represent dealers and other employees directly providing gaming services.[3] The union also has a partnership with the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, which Hattie Canty, the first African-American woman elected to be president of the Culinary Union, was instrumental in organizing. Local 165 of UNITE HERE represents bartenders in Las Vegas although the two locals negotiate contracts in tandem.

With 60,000 members, the Culinary is the largest union in the state of Nevada. The union tripled its membership between 1990 and 2020, even as labor union membership declined nationwide in the same time period. According to labor journalist Steven Greenhouse, it has "catapulted thousands of dishwashers, waiters, and hotel housekeepers into the middle class, even though those are poverty-level jobs in many other cities." Despite Nevada's status as a "right-to-work" state, around 97% of bargaining units choose to join the Culinary Union and pay dues. This has led The New Republic to call the Culinary Union "America's greatest modern labor success story."[4]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impacts on the Nevada tourist industry, more than 98% of the union's members became unemployed in 2020. During the pandemic, the union provided 18 months of free health insurance to laid-off members and distributed over 475,000 baskets of food to hospitality workers' families in need. It also lobbied for Nevada's Senate Bill 4, which instituted COVID-19 workplace safety regulations for the state's hospitality industry, and Senate Bill 386, which guaranteed laid-off hospitality workers the right to be rehired into their old jobs when casinos and other businesses reopened.[5]

On September 27, 2023, the union's Las Vegas chapter voted to authorize a strike.[6] A tentative deal was then reached on November 8, 9 and 10, 2023 to prevent a strike.[7][8][9] The new five-year contract would then be ratified with 99% approval when voting concluded for Caesar's Entertainment, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts workers on November 20, 21 and 22.[10][11][12][13] On January 26, 2024, the Culinary Union also reached tentative agremements on a five-year labor contract with Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and a three-year labor contract with Circus Circus Reno.[14][15][16] On September 19, 2024, the Venetian, which was built in 1999 and was the last remaining Las Vegas Strip casino to not have a union, would become the latest Las Vegas Strip resort to approve a Culinary Union labor contract, thus ensuring that all of the culinary workers employed in Las Vegas Strip resorts were now unionized.[17][18] However, in spite of the fact that all Las Vegas resorts were now unionized, Culinary Union members at the Las Vegas Virgin Hotel & Casino have been without a labor contract since the previous one expired in June 2023.[17][19]

  1. ^ "History". Culinary Union Local 226.
  2. ^ Underthun, Anders: Homage to Las Vegas Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, NIBR International: The Hotel Worker Project, 22.02.2010
  3. ^ Website of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Archived 2008-01-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Noah, Timothy (February 17, 2022). "Inside America's Greatest Modern Labor Success Story". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  5. ^ "How the Mighty Culinary Union Survived the Apocalypse". In These Times. December 15, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  6. ^ "Las Vegas hospitality workers overwhelmingly permit union to call strike against hotels, casinos". Associated Press News. September 26, 2023.
  7. ^ Yamat, Rio (November 9, 2023). "Tentative deal is close with Las Vegas hotel workers union amid strike threat, says MGM's CEO". The Associated Press. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  8. ^ "MGM Resorts reaches labor deal with Las Vegas unions, averts strike". Reuters. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  9. ^ Tiwary, Shivansh; Oladipo, Doyinsola (November 10, 2023). "Wynn Resorts reaches deal with Las Vegas unions, avoiding strike". Reuters. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  10. ^ "Las Vegas hospitality unions ratify 5-year contract with Caesars". Reuters. November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  11. ^ Ross, McKenna (November 21, 2023). "MGM workers cast 99 percent of votes for Culinary union contract". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  12. ^ "Wynn Resorts employees overwhelmingly ratify Culinary Union contract". KVVU-TV. November 22, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  13. ^ Forrest, Brett (November 22, 2023). "Breaking down the dollars: How much Culinary Union members make under new contracts". KSNV. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  14. ^ "Culinary Union reaches tentative agreement with Circus Circus Las Vegas". KSNV. January 27, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  15. ^ Rosenberg, Mark (January 27, 2024). "Las Vegas Culinary Union reaches another contract agreement with a Strip property". KVVU-TV. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  16. ^ Stutz, Howard (January 26, 2024). "Reno's Circus Circus resort agrees to a contract with Culinary". Nevada Independent. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  17. ^ a b Sebellius, Steve (September 20, 2024). "Culinary Union celebrates the end of their longest campaign". KTNV. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  18. ^ Tisminezky, Ryan (September 19, 2024). "100% of Las Vegas Strip resorts recognize labor unions". KLAS. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  19. ^ Hudspeth, Christian (August 30, 2024). "23 Culinary Union members arrested during picket outside Virgin Hotels Las Vegas". KTNV. Retrieved October 8, 2024.