A threatened strike by the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas could cost an estimated $300 million in its first month, union representatives estimated.
Union analyst Ken Liu said: ”Caesars Entertainment’s earnings would be slashed by $115 million before interest, while MGM Resorts International would lose $200 million.”
Nearly 40,000 union workers, primarily cocktail servers, bartenders, housekeepers, food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks and other kitchen workers plan to walk out on Friday when their contracts expire, due to a contractual disagreement.
About 20 percent of the union workers are employed by Penn National Gaming, Golden Entertainment and Boyd Gaming.
Under their current contract, workers received annual raises, which include salary and benefits, of 2.2 percent, Culinary Workers Union.
Nearly half of the membership participated in balloting earlier this month to authorise union leadership to call for a strike, voting 99 percent in favour.
Under a proposed new five-year contract, the union is seeking annual raises of 4 percent.
The union is also seeking panic buttons for housekeepers to alert authorities if they are under duress.
MGM spokeswoman Mary Hynes and Caesars spokesman Rich Broome said they were “confident” casino operators would reach a mutually beneficial deal with the union and avert a strike.
