Cosmopolitan Workers Rally on the Strip for a Contract
Some 6,000 hotel workers and community supporters rallied last Friday in front of The Cosmopolitan hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Members of Culinary Workers Union/UNITE HERE Local 226 picketed to support Cosmopolitan workers who have been trying to negotiate a contract with their employer for more than two years, since they first voted to join the union. Many Local 226 members are also in the midst of their own contract negotiations, as most contracts along the Strip expired as of June 1 and are now in extension as negotiations continue.
Julia Mosqueda, a food server at Caesars Palace, said she attended the action because, "What's happening at the Cosmo affects all workers in Vegas. We have fought for gaming jobs to be good jobs with decent wages and strong benefits, and we're not going to let that change. I'll be out there because I don't want to let the Cosmo threaten everything that makes Las Vegas a great place to work."
The Culinary Workers Union is the largest union in Nevada. The vast majority of the union's 55,000 members work at casinos on the Las Vegas Strip and in the city's downtown area. They also work in food service outlets at McCarran International Airport and industrial laundries throughout the Las Vegas valley. Members of the Culinary Workers Union work in a range of jobs, including cocktails, bell, kitchen workers, cooks, food servers, housekeepers, porters and many more.
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