“We know that we can’t be a society where it’s just upper class and lower class. This is the labor movement’s time,” Lilla said. The union said it had been patient with the casino companies over seven months of negotiations that spurred large-scale rallies on the Strip, including one in October that brought rush-hour traffic to a halt and ended with the arrests of 58 hotel workers who sat in the street in what they described at the time as a show of force ahead of any potential strike. We want to be protected, as well as for our guests.” We need emergency buttons in our service bars.
“We don’t feel safe on the casino floor,” veteran Bellagio cocktail waitress Leslie Lilla told The Associated Press.
Hospitality workers - from bartenders and cocktail servers to kitchen employees and housekeepers - have also said they want better job security amid advancements in technology, as well as stronger security protections, including more safety buttons. She declined to say how much the union is seeking in pay raises because, she said, “we do not negotiate in public,” but the union has said it is asking for “the largest wage increases ever negotiated” in its history.
Members currently receive health insurance and earn about $26 hourly, including benefits, union spokesperson Bethany Khan said.
