After 25 years of operating as a non-union hotel-resort and convention center, The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, which encompasses The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip, have established a tentative agreement with Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 on a new four-year contract covering more than 4,000 employees in the resorts’ food, beverage, housekeeping, bar, lounge, and bell departments.

Reached in the early hours of August 20, the milestone contract contains standard union protections that the Culinary Union has negotiated and won over its 89-year history, including health care benefits, owners and successorship, access to Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, Culinary and Bartenders Housing Fund, Culinary & Bartenders Legal Service Fund, Culinary Union Pension, and includes language on increased worker security regarding sexual harassment, technology, and immigration, and a choice regarding health care benefits. 

To achieve this tentative agreement, which now awaits a pending ratification vote by the 4,000 newly unionized hospitality workers at the two properties, a committee comprising more than 100 Venetian Resort team members participated in every main table negotiating session and subcommittee meeting over the last year.

Mirroring five-year Union contracts secured with MGM International, Wynn Resorts and Caesars Entertainment late last year, the agreement also includes a significant wage increase of more than 35%, workload reductions, daily room cleaning for guestroom attendants, on-the-job worker safety protections, recall rights, and the right for unionized workers to support non-union restaurant workers seeking to unionize through picketing, leafleting, and other organizing activities. 

Event organizers will be watching to see how the deal could affect costs, staffing, or scheduling of labor, coordination with outside vendors, and other issues. Remaining non-union venues in Las Vegas include the recently opened Fontainebleau Las Vegas and the Sphere, the landmark entertainment arena.

The agreement comes at a time when hotel workers around the country are protesting to secure Union contracts at more than 50 hotels in major cities such as San Francisco, Boston, Provident, RI, and Honolulu.

What they are saying: “Today’s tentative agreement on a new four-year union contract with The Venetian Resort Las Vegas is a testament to the power of worker solidarity and determination,” said Ted Pappageorge, Culinary Union secretary-treasurer. “The workers at The Venetian Resort have now made history by unionizing 25-years after the property opened its doors. This contract not only guarantees job security and fair wages, but it also upholds the standards that the Culinary Union has fought to establish in Las Vegas.”

The big picture: The tentative contract comes more than a year after the Culinary and Bartenders Unions entered into a card-check neutrality agreement with The Venetian Resort in June 2023 that would allow the labor groups to organize the properties’ non-gaming workforce. According to Culinary Union officials, UNITE HERE unions, including the Culinary and Bartenders Unions, have a history of working with resort operator Apollo Global Management in Las Vegas and in other major metropolitan areas across the U.S.

 Deeper dive: “The Venetian Resort Las Vegas has a long history of respecting our team members and putting their needs and interests at the center of our decision-making process,” said The Venetian Resort President and CEO Patrick Nichols. “The Venetian Resort has been and continues to be the most team member-focused resort on The Las Vegas Strip. We look forward to ratification of the agreement and to a positive and productive relationship working alongside both the Joint Executive Board and our team members.”

Backstory: The deal also marks the end of more than two decades of anti-union efforts by The Venetian and The Palazzo’s former owner, Sheldon Adelson. Two months after his passing in January 2021, the Strip properties were acquired for $6.25 billion in a two-part deal between real estate trust VICI Properties, which purchased the land, resort properties and the Venetian Expo for $4 Billion, and Apollo, which acquired the resorts’ operations for $2.25 billion.

Why it matters: “This new contract is a game-changer for all of us—getting such a significant wage increase and a pension is something we’ve been working toward for a long time, and to see it happen is exciting and I appreciate the Culinary Union and The Venetian Resort working together to make it happen,” said Sergio Javier Andrade, who has worked as a floor attendant at The Venetian Resort for 17 years. “We’ve worked hard for this for over a year and I feel very proud of what we were able to accomplish together. By voting yes to ratify, we’re setting ourselves up for a better, more secure future.”

Context: Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 represent 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of the casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. The two unions are Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, which represents 300,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America. 

Watch a video of the Union announcement here.

Update: On Aug. 27, the Las Vegas Culinary Union announced that 99% of their members at The Venetian and The Palazzo voted to ratify the new contract. Watch a video of the ratification here.

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