LAS VEGAS (CelebrityAccess) The Culinary Union, representing 50,000 employees in Las Vegas, is on the verge of a strike that could begin at midnight tonight and cost the two largetst resort operators approximately $10 million a day, according to the union.
Workers of the union, representing housekeepers, cooks, bartenders and other workers, voted last week to authorize a strike starting June 1 as negotiations contnued regarding workplace training, wages, tehcnology and other concerns.
MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment operate more than half of the properties that would be affected, and the union estimated the one-month strike would cost them approximately $10 million a day but could not estimate how much it would cost the 30 casino-hotels overall, according to the Associated Press. That’s because the last strike was in 1984 when the city had 90,000 fewer rooms and 12.8 million annual visitors versus 42.2 million visitors today.
The strike also occurs during the Stanley Cup Finals that includes the Las Vegas Knights, which play that the city’s T-Mobile Arena.
“Furthermore, one might assume a 10 percent worsening of operating margins due to the use of less experienced and less skilled replacements … to keep the doors open, rooms cleaned, food cooked, and cocktails served, not to mention other factors such as the disruptions to management staff’s regular work,” the union wrote.
