Union to scrutinize employee schedule cuts at Mandalay Bay

The Culinary union said it will look into whether Mandalay Bay followed proper procedures when it cut employees’ work hours, effective immediately, in response to the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting.

Mandalay Bay management began informing members of the front desk, guest services and bell desk on Wednesday that they would be moved from full-time to the reserve list, the Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported Friday.

Mandalay Bay employees on a reserve list are not guaranteed a shift during the week, giving them little wage visibility. Several hundred of the 7,400 employees at Mandalay Bay will be affected, according to parent company MGM Resorts International.

“Contracts have seniority language which detail that layoffs must be done in a fair and impartial manner and ensures that when business improves, workers will return to work by seniority,” Culinary Local 226 spokeswoman Bethany Khan said in a statement. “The Union will be monitoring the situation closely and continue working with affected workers to ensure that the company follows the contract.”

Mandalay Bay saw a spike in cancellations immediately after Stephen Paddock fired onto a concert crowd from his room on the hotel’s 32nd floor, killing 58 people, MGM Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren told investors last week.

MGM Resorts halted advertisement of Mandalay Bay for several weeks, further affecting bookings, he said. As a result of the shooting, MGM Resorts expects Las Vegas net revenue to drop several percentage points in the fourth quarter compared with the last three months of 2016, Murren said.

Wynn Las Vegas said it is not making any hourly cuts aside from the seasonal closure of nightclubs as well as some reduced hours for restaurants in mid-Dec. Boyd Gaming Corp. held a job fair last week to help fill several hundred openings across Las Vegas, said spokesman David Strow. Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Caesars Entertainment Corp. did not immediately respond to questions about whether they are cutting workers’ hours.

MGM is “working to minimize” the impact on Mandalay Bay employees, spokeswoman Debra DeShong said Monday. MGM does not expect any impact on benefits for non-union employees, she added.

Bookings at Mandalay Bay have recently started to recover and occupancy is well above 80 percent, DeShong said, declining to say whether room prices have also recovered.

Mandalay Bay expects to begin adding more hours to employees’ schedules in early January, she said.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Sheldon Adelson, the majority owner of Las Vegas Sands.

Review-Jornal writer Rachel Crosby contributed to this report. Contact Todd Prince at tprince@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0386. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter. Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-8301. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.