Culinary Union launches organizing campaign at Citizens inside Mandalay Bay, unveils UnionEats.org en español –

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Las Vegas, NV – Workers at Citizens Kitchen & Bar, which is inside MGM Resorts International’s Mandalay Bay, have joined workers at Alexxa’s (inside Paris Casino) in the Culinary Union campaign to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip. The Culinary Union also released UnionEats.org en español with the organizing platform, Union Eats guide, and restaurant campaign pages in Spanish.

“This month, for the first time in nearly two decades, thousands of Culinary and Bartenders Union members picketed on the Las Vegas Strip, as workers have authorized a strike and continue negotiations for a new 5-year union contract. Among other items in negotiations, the Culinary Union has proposed language making clear that the no-strike clause does not prevent the Culinary Union from taking action, including strikes, against non-union restaurants on the casino property, and gives casino workers the right to respect picket lines,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “Union contracts provide for good wages, excellent benefits, and strong protections for rights-on-the-job for those workers who clean, cook, prepare, and put their blood, sweat, and tears into the hospitality industry. The Culinary Union stands in solidarity with non-union restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip who want to organize for a better future for themselves and their families.”

Citizens is owned by SBE Entertainment Group, with Sam Nazarian serving as its Chairman & CEO. In April 2020, Nazarian said: “The lifeblood of what we do are the day in and day out employees that come to work, that clean, that cook, that prepare, that literally put their blood, sweat, and tears into hospitality.” SBE, the owner of Citizens, has previously operated a unionized casino resort property on the Las Vegas Strip when the company owned SLS Las Vegas (now Sahara Las Vegas).

“I am fighting to have a union, good health insurance, and a pension so that when I retire one day, I have more to depend than just social security, said David Reyes Ventura, a cook at Citizens for 12 years. “Right now, I don’t have health insurance for my three daughters and wife, only for myself through my job. My daughters have to get their health insurance through Medicaid. Workers like me, who don’t have a union, have lower wages – it would be fair if our wages were equal with the union workers in our casino. I have never been in the Culinary Union, but I know from my friends and family who are in the union that when workers are union, management can’t send you home if it is a slow day because the union protects workers in all areas at work. It is important that one job is enough so that I have enough time for my family.”

Cooks, fountain workers, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, bussers, and hosts at Citizens are organizing to address the deep inequality inside Mandalay Bay: A Culinary Union Fountain Worker at Mandalay Bay earns up to $3.76 an hour more than a non-union Citizens Counter Worker while a Culinary Union Cook earns up to $6.32 more per hour than a non-union Citizens Cook.

“I am fighting to give my family a better life. Right now, I would have pay extra money to have my family on my health insurance, which is an added monthly cost and I already work two jobs to support my wife and daughter,” said Raymundo Lopez, a cook at Citizens at Mandalay Bay for 6 months. “It is hard having two jobs because I feel like I’m neglecting my family by spending more time at work than at home with them, but working a second job is the only way I am able to cover all the expenses that we have at home. Joining the Culinary Union would change my life because I could have economic stability with a higher salary and health insurance that would cover my wife and my daughter. With one good job, I would no longer have to work a second job out of necessity. One job should be enough to live.”

In September, Culinary Union launched a campaign to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers and a website, UnionEats.org that is available in English and Spanish. The Culinary Union is actively engaging in outreach to restaurant workers who are employed in and around unionized casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. The website features the organizing drives at Alexxa’s and now Citizens. The website also lists over 360 union restaurants so customers can support restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas by patronizing unionized establishments where workers are treated with dignity, have fair wages, job security, great health care benefits, and respect on-the-job.

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October 11, 2024:

Culinary Union wins first restaurant union contract at Eataly Las Vegas at the Park MGM in campaign to organize 10,000 workers –

October 25, 2023:

Culinary Union launches organizing campaign at Citizens inside Mandalay Bay, unveils UnionEats.org en español –

September 22, 2023:

Culinary Union launches organizing campaign at Alexxa’s Las Vegas at Paris Casino, restaurant workers demand respect from owner JRS Hospitality –

September 4, 2023:

Culinary Union launches campaign to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers in Las Vegas beginning with Eataly Las Vegas at Park MGM, releases new website listing over 360 union restaurants on Labor Day –

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RESTAURANT INDUSTRY FACTS:

• Food and beverage sales represent 25% of total income made by these casinos overall and are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels. Though profits have skyrocketed for restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip, but wages for non-union restaurant workers are lagging behind.
• Nationally, the number of food prep and serving related jobs has increased by 27% since layoffs during the pandemic, but the average wage has only increased 8%. In Las Vegas, the Culinary Union has seen nearly 10,000 union jobs that haven’t returned due to pandemic-related cuts and buffet closures.
• Today, the average non-union wage in Las Vegas for a food prep and/or serving related worker is $14.39 an hour. This is an annual average of $29,920. After working endlessly to keep the industry afloat during the pandemic, restaurant workers deserve to live and work with dignity and respect.

THE RESTAURANT WORKER PLATFORM:

• One job should be enough: If restaurant workers work a 40-hour work week, they should be able to provide for themselves and their families.
• Affordable health care: Restaurant workers shouldn’t have to choose between keeping themselves and their families health and paying rent.
• Tip transparency: Restaurant workers should get to decide how tips are distributed.
• Safety at work: No harassment from management or customers.
• Respect and dignity: Especially with regard to race, gender, immigration status, language, and sexual orientation.
• A union: Restaurant workers want the right to organize without intimidation or retaliation from the boss.