Union plans Strip picket lines, pressuring hotels to avoid strike

Thousands of hospitality workers are expected to picket in front of eight Strip resorts this week as Culinary Local 226 ramps up its pressure to negotiate a deal for a new five-year contract with hotel-casino employers.

Two-hour “informational picket lines” are expected to begin at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Thursday in front of Park MGM, Paris Las Vegas and The Linq Hotel. Picketers are then expected to expand to the sidewalks in front of Harrah’s, Flamingo, Horseshoe Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood Resort and New York-New York.

The picket lines are not a work stoppage, and a strike deadline has not been set, union officials said Monday. Workers joining the picket lines are expected to join before or after their shifts.

Culinary union officials asked the public to not cross any picket lines in solidarity with the workers.

Negotiations continue between the union and three major employers: MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts. Bargaining occurred last week, but the results were “very disappointing,” Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the union, said on Monday. Another round of negotiations has not been scheduled as of Monday afternoon.

“This is really about making our every effort to try to send messages to these companies that they’re walking down the wrong path,” Pappageorge told reporters.

Contracts expired at the three large employers last month and the union held a strike authorization vote in which 95 percent of members supported a strike if necessary. About 40,000 members are working under expired contracts and would be the first to go on strike if one were called.

Pappageorge said the union is choosing to picket in front of MGM and Caesars-operated properties on Thursday because of one element in the bargaining. The union has proposed language making clear that the no-strike clause doesn’t prevent Culinary from taking action against non-union restaurants on the property — a contentious issue at MGM and Caesars, but not Wynn.

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.