Friday, June 15, 2018

Caesars’ Las Vegas Casino Resort Employees Approve New Contract

Casino News Daily
Caesars’ Las Vegas Casino Resort Employees Approve New Contract

Unionized workers at Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s Las Vegas Strip and downtown properties approved Thursday the terms of a new five-year contract, thus putting an end to months of negotiations that, in another case scenario, could have culminated in a citywide employees’ strike.

While no details have been released about the terms of the new contract, it has emerged that it includes wage increases and a special language that aims to protect staff members in case the property they work at is sold to another company. The contract also addresses sexual harassment in the wake of multiple misconduct at the workplace allegations against disgraced casino boss Steve Wynn.

Under the terms of the new agreement between workers and their employer, guest room attendants will be provided with wireless devices that will make it possible for them to inform security that they feel under threat in due time. Employees asked for improved security at their workplace after last October’s deadly shooting in which a lone gunman opened fire into a crowd of concert-goers from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay to kill 59 people and injure nearly 500 others.

The new contract also includes language that protects Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals beneficiaries as well as immigrants that live and work in the United States temporarily under a special protective status. That particular measure was negotiated after US President Donald Trump announced that he would seek to annul the Obama administration-promoted DACA immigration policy.

Reactions to the New Contract Terms

Unionized workers at Caesars’ properties negotiated the new agreement for months. The matter escalated into a citywide vote in May that authorized the local UNITE HERE Culinary and Bartenders Unions to call a citywide strike, if the negotiating parties failed to iron out their differences by the end of May. A tentative agreement was eventually reached, which prevented the city’s largest citywide strike in decades from taking place and causing disturbances and even closures of properties.

The negotiations covered 50,000 union members employed at Las Vegas’ casino resorts, including 12,000 workers at Caesars’ properties. All 12,000 are now covered by the new contract after yesterday’s approval. They are employed at the major company’s Strip properties, including the flagship Caesars Palace, Bally’s, Harrah’s, Paris, Flamingo, Planet Hollywood, The Linq, and The Cromwell, as well as the off-Strip Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

Union members have reached a similar agreement with MGM Resorts International, another major operator of casino resorts across Las Vegas.

Commenting on their new contract, workers said yesterday that by far it was the best one they had ever reached in the union’s history, particularly given the fact that it addresses safety concerns in the wake of last October’s tragedy and the sexual misconduct allegations against Mr. Wynn.

The post Caesars’ Las Vegas Casino Resort Employees Approve New Contract appeared first on Casino News Daily.

No comments:

Post a Comment