• A union for casino-hotel workers says it has reached a tentative agreement with MGM Resorts International, covering nearly half of the 50,000 employees threatening to strike in Las Vegas. The deal between MGM and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 was announced by the union in a tweet late Saturday. A tentative accord between the labor union and the other big casino employer threatened.
• 5-year labor deal reached between union, 2 Las Vegas casinos. Two casinos in downtown Las Vegas reached a tentative labor agreement with unionized bartenders, food and cocktail servers and other workers over the weekend. Get More Culinary Union Stories.
• UPDATE (JUNE 29): The Culinary Union Local 226 on Monday filed a lawsuit on behalf of employees against hotel casinos that they say have not taken sufficient precautions to keep employees safe.
• LAS VEGAS (FOX5) - The Culinary Union 226 has sent a letter Thursday to Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak asking for a bill enforcing casino COVID-19 safety policies ahead of the special session.

1. D Casino Deal With Culinary Union San Francisco
2. D Casino Deal With Culinary Union

A little more than a couple of hours later, the Culinary Union announced that it had come to an agreement with Caesar Enterprises, a casino operator that employs only 12,000 of the union’s 50,000 members.

A reprieve

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 have come to an agreement with Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, guaranteeing tens of thousands of Las Vegas casino employees family health benefits through February 2021.

Announced on August 31, the pacts with the casino companies will affect approximately 36,000 union workers across 22 properties on the Las Vegas Strip.

workers can still get health benefits until March 1, 2021 even if they remain on furlough

Culinary Union executive Geoconda Argüello-Kline labeled these agreements as “historic.” As a result of the agreements, workers can still get health benefits until March 1, 2021 even if they remain on furlough, as well as have a guarantee that they will keep their seniority benefits upon returning to work.

Among the other protections, any employee that is told to quarantine by local health officials will get ten days of paid leave. No disciplinary action can be taken against any worker that has COVID-19 symptoms and has to isolate.

An important step

Speaking about the new agreements, Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said that they are “an important step in continuing to ensure our team members and their families are protected during these unpredictable times.”

unprecedented challenges”

MGM Resorts president and CEO Bill Hornbuckle echoed these remarks, emphasizing that the industry and communities are “facing unprecedented challenges.”

The news of this extension of health benefits came on the same day that MGM Resorts International officially laid off approximately 18,000 workers across its US properties.

Health benefits for laid off workers will remain in place until September 30. Those who lost their jobs will be put on a recall list; anyone who is rehired by the end of 2021 will retain seniority.

Continued persistence

Negotiations took place over the past few months to come up with a plan to protect jobs and keep employees safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevada casinos closed in the middle of March because of the virus; they were allowed to reopen on June 4. Some of the casinos in the state remain closed.

The unions sued Caesars and MGM Resorts subsidiaries in June in an effort to get stronger safety measures to help protect worker health. The lawsuit claims were dismissed in August.

According to the unions, the agreements signed on Monday affect 24,000 workers at MGM Resorts and 12,000 employees at Caesars. Officials are now working to nail down similar benefits for 24,000 workers at other casinos and hotels in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A union for Las Vegas casino-hotel workers is shifting its attention to negotiating contracts with smaller casino operators after reaching tentative labor agreements with two companies that employ most of the 50,000 employees threatening the first citywide strike in more than three decades.

The Culinary Union said Monday that it was now focusing on 15 properties on the Las Vegas Strip and in downtown not covered by the deals with Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International. The workers without new five-year contracts could walk out of properties including the Tropicana, Treasure Island, Golden Nugget, The D and Downtown Grand at any time after authorizing a strike last month.

“The agreements with MGM and Caesars have historic language regarding immigration, technology and automation, and safety, from sexual harassment language to safety buttons,” said Bethany Khan, spokeswoman for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226. “We always have one standard for our contracts, and we are going to negotiate that one standard with other properties.”

The largest labor organization in Nevada has declined to provide details of the tentative agreements with the two largest casino operators in Sin City because workers have not approved them. But generally, both sides agreed to wage increases and to equip housekeepers with “panic buttons” — wireless devices that workers can use to alert managers if they are in a threatening situation.

The contracts of 50,000 employees, including bartenders, housekeepers, bellmen and kitchen workers, at 34 casino-hotels expired at midnight Thursday. After talks began in February, the union reached deals with Caesars on Friday and MGM on Saturday.

Khan said the agreements include language addressing the beneficiaries of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and immigrants allowed to live and work in the U.S. under temporary protective status. The Trump administration has sought to end DACA, but court orders have kept the program open. It also has announced it will terminate the special protections of thousands of immigrants from several countries.

Under the tentative agreements, workers who lose their work permit and are later able to readjust their immigration status will be able to get back their casino jobs and seniority, Khan said.

“We are pleased that all economic and personal security issues have been resolved with this new contract and that employees will continue to provide guests superior service and experiences,” Tom Jenkin, global president and lead negotiator for Caesars, said in a statement. “This historic agreement ensures that our union team members will continue to be a crucial part of the Las Vegas dream.”

No date has been set for a possible strike, but workers have started signing up for strike pay, financial assistance and picketing shifts. If there is a strike, visitors could see workers picketing outside casino-hotels still in negotiations.

The last citywide strike was in 1984, and it cost the city and workers millions of dollars.

The union said negotiators will focus first on casino-hotels on the Strip and then on those in downtown Las Vegas.

The average worker on the Las Vegas Strip makes about $23 an hour, including benefits such as premium-free health care, a pension and a 401(k) retirement savings plan.

D Casino Deal With Culinary Union San Francisco

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D Casino Deal With Culinary Union

Follow Regina Garcia Cano on Twitter at https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO .