LABOR:

Culinary Union agrees to wage freeze

Workers’ raises spread out over rest of contract term; union wins on other issues

Saturday, June 20, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Gaming companies ask Culinary for ‘relief’ on raises; they’re talking (6-12-2009)
Strip gaming win tumbles in April (6-5-2009)
Report: Industry's demand will rebound, but more pain ahead (6-4-2009)
Another union seeks Culinary's right to organize Strip workers (4-26-2009)
Culinary parent's battles threaten national union federation (3-14-2009)

Headlines from the Vegas gaming industry

Sympathetic to recession-reeling Strip casinos, the Culinary Union has agreed to postpone by one year a wage increase that was supposed to take effect June 1.

The agreement, which is expected to be approved by union members today after months of negotiations, will spread an expected 34-cents-per-hour increase in wages due this year over the remaining years of the contract. That means a big part of the union’s hard-won contract struck in 2007 — the wage and benefit increase of $3.47 per hour, spread over five years — survives.

The revised contract affects nearly 40,000 Culinary Union members on the Strip. Workers at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore are covered by a separate, 10-year contract that isn’t part of the agreement. Of the major casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard, only the Venetian, Palazzo and Imperial Palace aren’t covered by Culinary contracts.

Strip casinos will save tens of millions of dollars in the short term but will end up paying out that money over the long haul.

In return for the one-year delay in wage increases, Strip casinos late Wednesday agreed to several union proposals, including a provision extending recall rights — a requirement that casinos call laid-off union workers back to work, by order of seniority, as soon as positions become available.

“We think this is a very good deal for members,” Culinary Union Political Director Pilar Weiss said. “We understand that the economy is extremely strained but we’re going to protect jobs and benefits.”

Although casinos won’t save labor costs, flexibility is important as they face an uncertain future, MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said.

“All of us are hopeful and feel a certain level of confidence in our longer-term future but we have, in the short term, very serious issues to grapple with related to cash flow,” he said.

The negotiations were unlike those in other industries that have asked unions for rollbacks, as well as some meetings in years past between casinos and the Culinary Union that became acrimonious or sparked public debate.

Similar negotiations with downtown casinos are ongoing.

Significantly, this time the union rejected attempts to allow for additional hourly reductions for full-time workers. The revised contract still guarantees a 40-hour workweek for most positions. Many industries, including casinos, have reduced labor costs by replacing full-time workers with part-time employees, who may not be eligible for health insurance and other benefits.

Las Vegas casinos have laid off and reduced hours for thousands of union and nonunion workers in an attempt to cut costs against sinking earnings and slash billions in debt accumulated when business was booming.

Since the recession, an estimated 5,000 of the Culinary’s membership of 55,000 in Las Vegas have lost jobs or work fewer hours.

Employers have the discretion to make economic layoffs, Culinary contracts generally prevent casinos from employing part-time workforces that are more than 25 percent union members in any particular job classification.

In addition to increasing recall rights from six months or a year to two years, Strip casinos also agreed to offer five unpaid personal days for Culinary workers and a commitment to resolve outstanding union arbitrations within 120 days.

Arbitrations are disputes that arise between union members and management over a variety of issues including layoffs, job changes and seniority rights.

More recently, workers have filed grievances with the Culinary — a first step in the dispute process — for layoffs that didn’t follow union procedures, changes in job stations and tip pooling.

“It’s a big deal to have a commitment to expedite these because sometimes they take a long time to resolve and you get a backlog,” Weiss said. Settling these cases will help clear up unknowns for workers who are insecure about their job status, seeking reinstatement or owed back pay, she said.

The agreement also extends the five-year contract struck in 2007 by one year, to May 31, 2013. All terms in the 2007 contract will remain the same in the final year except for wages and benefits, which are up for negotiation in May 2012.

The union might be able to negotiate a further increase in wages and benefits if the economy has rebounded by then and can support it, Weiss said.

The plan also would put the MGM Grand on a similar contract cycle as the other Strip casinos. Union members at MGM Grand would receive the same wage and benefits package as workers at the other properties. The Culinary contract at MGM Grand, which was in negotiation since it expired in November 2008, will now expire in November 2013.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.

By formervegas76

June 20, 2009

3:59 a.m.

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don't you just love it how the little guy always takes responsibility. big shots get away with the cash and idiots hate the union folks. amazing.
By Future

June 20, 2009

5:25 a.m.

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To bad the state, county, and city public union reps can not take the same approach to a depression
By JPinLV

June 20, 2009

11:01 a.m.

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Wages keep going up The slots get tighter w/ less payback Hope the exec's freeze their pay too
and before long Obama our great saviour will have to take over & run the casinos like he's doing w/ the auto business
By formervegas76

June 21, 2009

4:06 a.m.

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don't you just love it- 4 reponses to this story, 2 are mine, nobody gives a crap about little guy out there, where's future's anger to greedy folks. folks wake up you're being duped by these rich and famous.
By geenab65

June 21, 2009

12:07 p.m.

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JPinLV, your ignorance is showing. Shhhhhhhhh.
By Tim24681

June 21, 2009

2:33 p.m.

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Uhhh..
Most companys have cut mgmt salaries and benefits. No 401k and 10% cut at Wynn, 5% at Harrah's. Also, there have been mgmt layoffs..

There's plenty of pain to go around.
By Narcissa

June 21, 2009

10:47 p.m.

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Unlike Barry OMarxist and his pitchfork-weilding hordes, I don't relish seeing anyone's salary decreasing-even that of the evil rich folks!

Having said that, it's a little hard to feel sympathy for the Culinary, given that a significant number of their members aren't even legally entitled to be earning an income here in the first place.
And, it's the Culinary that's always in the forefront of trying to undermine any efforts to ensure that people in this city are, in fact, working here lawfully.
Given the fabulous impact the influx of illegal aliens has had on our overall economic well-being

nationally and here in Nevada, I can totally see how that
determination to impede our immigration enforcement efforts is working out for ya!

Maybe you can get you messiah (once he's done raising the oceans, as he said he would), to give a moving TelePrompTer speech and everyone can shout, "Yes, we can!!" (or, however it is they say it in Spanish!) in wonderful, heartfelt unison!

That, or take over the casinos. Nothing unconstitutional about that!
By phil721

June 23, 2009

3:09 p.m.

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Hey Narsiidiot,

If the culinary has members not entitled to earn an income, do the big casino's not accept any responsibility? Do they not do a background check?
By David001

June 25, 2009

5:20 p.m.

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Some contend that unions were helpful and relevant in our nations development but civil law now protects the integrity of the worker and unions are now a drag on enterprise. Are unions like other businesses and is this an instance of union leaders making a business decision? Are union expenses negotiated into the collective bargaining agreements that cost companies but employees do not receive?