Culinary Workers Union
Culinary Workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 226 | |
| Founded | November 1, 1935 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 1630 S. Commerce Street Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Location | |
| Members | 60,000 |
President | Diana Valles |
Key people | Ted Pappageorge (Secretary-Treasurer) |
Parent organization | UNITE HERE |
| Affiliations | Nevada AFL–CIO |
| Website | culinaryunion226.org |
The Culinary Workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 226 is a local union affiliated with UNITE HERE which operates in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. Members include a variety of occupations organized along craft lines working in restaurants, hotels and laundries, in the casinos in the Las Vegas metropolitan area and Reno, as well as Harry Reid International Airport and Valley Hospital Medical Center. While most Culinary members work in casinos, the union does not represent dealers and other employees directly providing gaming services.
With 60,000 members, the Culinary is the largest union in the state of Nevada. The union tripled its membership between 1990 and 2020, even as labor union membership declined nationwide in the same time period. According to labor journalist Steven Greenhouse, it has "catapulted thousands of dishwashers, waiters, and hotel housekeepers into the middle class, even though those are poverty-level jobs in many other cities." Despite Nevada's status as a"right-to-work" state, around 97% of bargaining units choose to join the Culinary Union and pay dues. This has led The New Republic to call the Culinary Union "America's greatest modern labor success story."
On September 27, 2023, the union's Las Vegas chapter voted to authorize a strike. A tentative deal was then reached on November 8, 9 and 10, 2023 to prevent a strike. The new five-year contract would then be ratified with 99% approval when voting concluded for Caesar's Entertainment, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts workers on November 20, 21 and 22. On January 26, 2024, the Culinary Union also reached tentative agreements on a five-year labor contract with Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and a three-year labor contract with Circus Circus Reno. The strikes ended with workers gaining pay increases of 32% over five years, with the average worker's pay increasing from $26-28 per hour to $35-37 per hour (including benefits).
On September 19, 2024, the Venetian, which was built in 1999 and was the last remaining Las Vegas Strip casino to not have a union, would become the latest Las Vegas Strip resort to approve a Culinary Union labor contract.