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Members of two UNITE HERE locals--Culinary Workers Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165--June 16 overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year contract with Harrah's Entertainment that the union hopes will set the standard for other Las Vegas hotel/casino contracts, a union spokeswoman said June 18.
The agreement, which covers some 15,000 workers at six Las Vegas mega resorts owned by Harrah's, provides the "largest wage plus benefit increase in the history" of the union, according to Pilar Weiss, Local 226's political director. In addition, it contains a number of significant, "first" language provisions including the creation of a career ladder, severance pay for employees displaced when a property closes, guaranteed pay for employees called up for military duty, and establishment of two Taft-Hartley trust funds, she said.
Alberto Lopez, corporate director of strategic communications for Harrah's, told BNA June 18 that the company did not want to comment on the details, but would leave that up to the union. Noting that the Culinary Workers released a statement on the contract, he added that Harrah's is in "total agreement with the Culinary Workers on the recent contract negotiations."
The agreement is the first reached in this year's round of bargaining between UNITE HERE and the major Las Vegas hotels/casinos. Contracts covering some 50,000 workers on the Las Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas expired at midnight May 31. Most of the contracts were extended as talks continued (106 DLR A-9, 6/4/07) .
The Harrah's contract covers workers at the Flamingo, Paris Hotel & Casino, Bally's, Caesars Palace, the Rio Hotel & Casino, and Harrah's Las Vegas. Among the classifications covered by the agreement are cocktail waitresses, bell department, kitchen workers, cooks, housekeepers, porters, and others.
Increases Can Be Split Between Wages, Benefits
The contract, which is retroactive to June 1, provides a wage and benefit package increase of $3.47 an hour over term, according to Weiss. Because the contract maintains fully employer-paid health insurance for both employees and their dependents, hourly increases each year can be divided between wages and benefits depending on how much health and pension costs increase each year, she said. The hourly increases are 66 cents in the first year, 67 cents in the second year, 69 cents in each of the third and fourth years, and 76 cents in the fifth year, she said.
In the first year, 53 cents of the increase will go to wages and 13 cents will go to health and welfare and pensions, Weiss said.
The current average wage at the six properties is $13.34 an hour, according to Weiss.
The contract also provides the largest increases in guaranteed gratuities for tipped employees in the union's history, Weiss said. For example, both banquet servers and waiters who serve parties of eight or more in a full service restaurant now will receive a guaranteed gratuity of 18 percent, up from 17 percent under the prior contract.
Career Ladder to Be Created
For the first time, the contract provides for a "career ladder" that includes a "very well developed" apprentice program and training for employees so they have a pathway to "move up," Weiss said. As an example, she said that many new restaurant venues are opening up in existing casinos and the workers need to be trained so they can move to the new establishments.
A "significant provision" in the contract calls for severance based on years of service for employees displaced due to the closure of any covered property during the life of the contract, Weiss said. A worker with more than 20 years service would receive $10,000; one with 15 years to 20 years would receive $7,500; one with 10 years to 15 years would receive $5,000; one with five years to 10 years would receive $3,000; and one with one to five years would receive $1,000. Displaced workers also would receive a "preferential right" to jobs at other properties owned by Harrah's, she said.
Stating that employees who are called up for military service usually end up with a big pay cut, Weiss said the union was able to negotiate language in which Harrah's agreed to pay the difference between the monthly military pay and the monthly pay the employee would have received if he/she had not been called up for duty.
Company Agrees to Legal Defense Fund
Harrah's agreed to participate in the establishment of a legal defense fund to help tipped employees being targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, Weiss said.
According to the union, the IRS in late 2006 abandoned a tip compliance program in which it agreed not to audit tipped workers who voluntarily participated in the program. As a result, many union members have received audit notices or have been billed for additional taxes, the union said.
Harrah's also agreed to participate in the establishment of a housing trust fund to help workers buy homes, Weiss said. She explained that employees covered by Culinary Workers contracts in Las Vegas have for years been able to afford their own homes, but housing prices have skyrocketed over the last few years.
Weiss added that to establish these two Taft-Hartley trust funds, the union needs to convince other employers to agree to their creation. This will be an issue in bargaining with the remainder of the hotel/casinos, she said. The parties have not yet figured out a contribution rate, she added.
The union was able to extend neutrality and card-check recognition language to new properties Harrah's obtains during the life of the agreement, even as part of a partnership, including condominiums, condo-hotels, and properties that have third-party operators, Weiss said. If the newly organized property is connected to one that already has a union contract, that contract would apply to those workers, she added.
The union hopes to return to the bargaining table this week with MGM Mirage, which owns 10 mega resorts on the Strip, and within several weeks with the many smaller properties, Weiss said.
While UNITE HERE wants the Harrah's contract to set the standard, Weiss added that there are some proprieties that "have unique issues that have to be resolved."
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