Mandalay Bay Restaurant Workers Vote to Unionize

Posted on: December 23, 2024, 09:08h. 

Last updated on: December 23, 2024, 09:59h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Employees at Las Vegas’ Citizens Kitchen & Bar located inside the MGM Resorts’ Mandalay Bay casino recently and overwhelmingly chose to affiliate with the Culinary Union.

Las Vegas’ Citizens Kitchen & Bar
Las Vegas’ Citizens Kitchen & Bar, pictured above. Workers voted to unionize. (Image: The Las Vegas Travel Guide)

News of the vote at the Las Vegas Strip property was released last week by the Culinary Union. The vote took place on December 5 and was supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Some 82% of the approximately 130 workers chose to affiliate with a union after a year-long effort. They include cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, and hosts.

One of the employees, Raymundo Lopez, who has worked as a cook at Citizens for a year, explained in a statement he voted in part for the union because his wife is pregnant “and I want health insurance for my family and myself.”

Citizens is owned by SBE Entertainment Group.

Earlier this year, employees at several other restaurants in Las Vegas chose to unionize. They include Eataly at Park MGM, Brooklyn Bowl and Gordon Ramsey Fish & Chips at the Linq Promenade, Café Belle at Paris Casino, and Starbucks at the Flamingo Casino.

Union Has a Restaurant Priority

“Restaurant workers across the Las Vegas Strip are organizing to win the union difference — fair wages, job security, union benefits, and the dignity and respect that they deserve,” Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union, said in the statement.

[The] Culinary Union remains committed to organizing and building power for hospitality workers and we invite all non-union restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip to join the fight for a better future — for themselves and their families.”

In addition, the Culinary Union revealed last week that it also reached a tentative agreement with the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

The agreement came on Thursday morning after about 18 hours of negotiation and covers close to 3,300 workers at the property. The rank and file will vote on the terms of the contract before it goes into effect.

If approved, it will be the first labor contract for the Fontainebleau’s workers. The property’s management, when the casino opened last December, chose to remain neutral over whether its employees would join a union.

Virgin Hotels Strike

A November 15 strike continues at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas by hospitality workers affiliated with the Culinary Union. The union is seeking salary increases and other improvements in working conditions.

Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, meanwhile, contends the Culinary Union is bargaining in bad faith.

“The Culinary Union has not seriously countered any of our economic proposals, nor even brought our latest offer to their members for a formal vote,” the casino said in a statement.