Stratosphere reaches agreement with unions
The Stratosphere on Saturday reached a tentative accord on a new collective bargaining agreement with Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165.
The agreement, the fourth to be reached in this year's contract negotiations between the unions and Las Vegas casino operators, will affect 1,200 workers at the property.
Details of the accord were not available pending a ratification vote by the workers scheduled for Saturday.
Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor, in a statement, commended both the negotiating committee and the Stratosphere on reaching the new agreement.
The deal comes four days before a Wednesday strike authorization vote by Culinary union workers that would give their negotiating committees authorization to call a strike at hotels that have not settled new collective bargaining agreements.
The new deal follows recent agreements with gaming giants Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage as well as the Riviera.
Those accords were for five years and included guaranteed annual raises and health care coverage that doesn't require employee-paid premiums.
Some 10,000 local workers continue to work on extended contracts since contracts for workers downtown and the Strip expired May 31.
Properties still without contracts include the Tropicana, Sahara, Las Vegas Hilton and 12 downtown hotels and casinos.
The unions announced Tuesday the formation of an $80 million strike fund.
The fund comes from members' dues and a $50 million line of credit from Amalgamated Bank, a union-owned bank in New York.
While the Wednesday vote doesn't mean there will be a walkout, it gives committees another bargaining chip during negotiations, according to union officials.
The tentative agreement comes while the Stratosphere's parent company, American Entertainment Properties Corp., is being sold for $1.3 billion to Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, an affiliate of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
American Entertainment, which is controlled by billionaire Carl Ichan, also owns the nonunion properties Arizona Charlie's Decatur and Arizona Charlie's Boulder, and a nonunion property in Laughlin.
Ichan started investing in the Stratosphere in 1997, taking control of the financially troubled property in 2000.
The sale, which was announced in April, is pending approval from state gaming regulators.
