Chartered June 15, 1934 and over 3,500 members strong, we are the Union for Bartenders and Apprentice Bartenders in the Las Vegas Metro area. For decades we have led the fight to win fair wages, solid benefits, and safe, dignified working conditions for Las Vegas’s hospitality workers. Our Union has a proud tradition of being on the front lines fighting for social change and economic justice.
Who We Are
UNITE HERE Local 165 members work in all of Las Vegas Metro hospitality industry. No matter where they work, our members take great pride in delivering quality and professional service.
Our union is diverse and democratic, and since its founding in 1934, our union has won respect for Bartenders and has given us a voice in the Greater Las Vegas area.
Our priorities are to negotiate great contracts for our members, empower workers to have a voice on the job and organize non-union workers.
Over the years, UNITE HERE Local 165 has fought hard for and won:
Living Wages
Job Security
A Voice on the Job
Respect in the Workplace
Family Health Insurance Fully Paid by the Employer
A Pension to Retire with Dignity
ABOUT UNITE HERE
Local 165 is affiliated with UNITE HERE International Union.
Bartenders Union 165 and Culinary Union reaches 5-year contract agreement with Treasure Island
The Bartenders Union 165 and Culinary Union announced Monday afternoon a tentative agreement has been reached with Treasure Island with a ratification soon.
The new 5-year contract covers 1,500 workers. The 2 remaining casino are The D and Golden Gate negotiations are continuing for 600 workers.
The Bartenders Union 165 Culinary Union has reached a tentative deal with Margaritaville.
The new contract covers 200 workers.
While the Culinary Union reached deals with the majority of casinos this summer, negotiations continue with three casinos, including Treasure Island, Golden Gate and The D Las Vegas.
Thousands of workers to march down Fremont Street to The D Casino Thursday, September 27th at 5 pm
WHAT:
Thousands of hospitality workers to march down Fremont Street to The D Casino Las Vegas as the Culinary Union fights to secure new 5-year contracts for workers who work at The D Casino and the Golden Gate.
WHO:
Culinary and Bartenders Unions members. Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union, Geoconda Argüello-Kline, and President for the Culinary Union, Ted Pappageorge. Workers from Nevada AFL-CIO member unions.
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, September 27, 2018 at 5 pm.
Workers will be available before and briefly after the march for interviews in English and Spanish. March concludes at approximately 6pm at The D Casino Las Vegas.
WHY:
Culinary and Bartenders Unions contracts covering 2,000 union workers expired on June 1, 2018. Almost all the casinos have settled, but negotiations continue for The D Casino and the Golden Gate in Downtown Las Vegas.
Members of the Culinary and Bartenders Unions whose contracts are now expired: Bartenders, guest room attendants, cocktail servers, food servers, porters, bellman, cooks, and kitchen workers who are employed at unsettled union properties on the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown Las Vegas.
The Culinary and Bartenders Unions have proposed new contract language to provide greater measure of security for members including workplace safety, sexual harassment, subcontracting, automation/technology, and immigration. In addition, the Union’s economic proposal seeks to provide workers a fair share of the employers’ enormous anticipated cash flows and Trump tax windfalls.
The Culinary and Bartenders Unions encourage Nevada locals, elected officials, political candidates, and tourists to support workers by not patronizing hotels and casinos under a labor dispute. Please support workers who are fighting for justice and do not cross picket lines.
Labor contracts for the below 3 casino resorts are expired:
We are not done until we ALL are done! We will not leave anyone behind
Casino Workers at The D Casino in Downtown Las Vegas Allege Sexual Harassment from Managers and Customers
Las Vegas, NV – Culinary Union member and former dancing bartender at The D Casino in downtown Las Vegas, Xstal Campbell, is fighting for justice after being fired from her job for claiming the right to a workplace free of sexual harassment. With a trial set before the National Labor Relations Board, Ms. Campbell is going public to share her story and encourage others to do the same. She and other workers at The D Casino will appear before the Nevada Gaming Control Board September 5, 2018 to share their stories of sexual harassment as the Board weighs regulatory standards for casinos.
“I endured sexual harassment from one of my managers at The D Casino for nearly a year,” said Xstal Campbell, a former dancing bartender at The D Casino. “The height of the harassment occurred during my probationary period and I felt vulnerable and that if I spoke up, I could lose my job.”
Ms. Campbell told the human resources department at The D Casino and requested the right to a workplace free of sexual harassment. Unfortunately, her report of sexual harassment was not welcomed. She was told to only worry about herself and no one else. At one point she was asked by the company if she did anything to elicit sexual harassment from her manager. In the months to follow, Ms. Campbell felt that she was a target of management and began to feel a lot of anxiety at work. She was unfairly suspended twice for days a time and eventually fired on May 14, 2018.
The Culinary Union is bargaining for stronger sexual harassment protections in current contract negotiations for 2,200 workers at 4 casino resorts, including workers at The D Casino and Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas.
“The D Casino’s treatment of Ms. Campbell is shameful and we will not stop fighting until she has justice,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, Secretary Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “At a time when the hospitality and gaming industries are working to ensure workers are protected, The D Casino is continuing to blame the victim. The company needs to do the right thing and ensure their workplace is free from sexual harassment.”
Ms. Campbell’s story is just one of the instances of sexual harassment reported to the Culinary Union by workers at The D Casino. Workers will share their experiences of sexual harassment at the Nevada Gaming Control Board at 9:00am on Wednesday, September 5th (Grant Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington, Room 2450).
Palms Casino and Green Valley Ranch Resort charged with violating federal law as Station Casinos continues to flout government’s certification of union election results
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, DC has denied Station Casinos’ legal challenges to recent union election victories at both Palms Casino and Green Valley Ranch Resort. The Regional Director for the NLRB office covering Las Vegas has now issued legal complaints against both properties alleging that their refusal to bargain is illegal.
The NLRB complaint against the Palms dated August 15, 2018 alleges: “Respondent has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith with the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of its employees…”
Workers at both the Palms and Green Valley Ranch voted by overwhelming margins in favor of unionizing in April 2018 and November 2017 respectively. But instead of recognizing these results, Station Casinos has tried to overturn the elections through a series of unsuccessful legal challenges.
Station Casinos’ challenges have been rejected twice now by unanimous three-member panels of the NLRB, and in each case, a majority of the panel were made up of appointees of the Trump Administration. Station Casinos’ legal challenge at the Palms was rebuffed by a one-line dismissal by the NLRB stating that it “raises no substantial issues warranting review.”
“The company lied to us,” said Eduardo Truebas Martinez, a cook at the Palms A.Y.C.E. Buffet. “Station Casinos always said that if we held a union election that they would respect our votes. We voted to unionize because we want the same standard as Strip workers – fair wages, job security, good health benefits. It’s time for the company to do the right thing and negotiate.”
The Culinary and Bartenders Unions calls on Station Casinos, Nevada’s third largest private employer, to begin contract negotiations immediately.
“Station Casinos is defying federal law as it continues to refuse to negotiate in good faith,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “Any unilateral changes pertaining to workers and their workplace conditions are illegal at the Palms and Green Valley Ranch unless explicitly bargained with the Culinary and Bartenders Unions.”
Culinary and Bartenders Union and The Citizenship Project to host a Citizenship Fair
WHAT: Citizenship Fair
WHO: A coalition consisting of the Culinary Union,Bartenders Union 165,The Citizenship Project, and UNITE HERE – the international hospitality worker’s union. Legal permanent residents and their families will attend the free citizenship fair throughout the day. Lawyers, activists, and community members from across the Las Vegas valley will volunteer.
WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, August 25, 2018 from 9:00am-2:00pm at the Culinary Union
1630 South Commerce Street Las Vegas, Nevada 89102
We stand in solidarity as we continue to move through the negotiation process.
Our Future Is Now!
GEOFFREY THOMAS PRESENTING $111,633.16 CHECK TO DAVE RONEK FROM A RECENT ARBITRATION DECISION
RETURN TO WORK WITH BACK-PAY AND BENEFITS.
PERRY NICHOLAS RECEIVED A $25,000.00 GRIEVANCE SETTLEMENT AWARD FROM A LAS VEGAS STRIP HOTEL & CASINO.
GEOFFREY THOMAS GIVING BRANDON TOBLER $40,000.00 SETTLEMENT FROM WYNN LAS VEGAS.
TRUMP’S LACK OF COURAGE SHOWS NO LEADERSHIP LEAVING THE FATE OF DACA IN THE HANDS OF A DYSFUNCTIONAL CONGRESS
DACA is a Program that allows young immigrants who came to the United States with their parents illegally to stay in the Country under the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act without fear of deportation. Now DACA stands a chance of being discontinued by Trump wanting to end by phasing out this program over the next six (6) months.
Under DACA, there are approximately 800,000 immigrants who have received work authorizations, including many hospitality workers and their families. This could result in hospitality industry workers from working lawfully thus forcing them to work illegally.
Congress is now forced to make a decision of the livelihoods of these immigrants, who contribute to the American economy, live productive and meaningful lives, and attain education and employment, lose their most basic rights to live in a country they were brought to as children. The Bartenders Union as well as UNITE HERE and its Affiliates condemn terminating DACA. We will lobby our congressional members as well as actively take to the streets across the country with our workers in every state in the nation to advocate to Congress to save DACA.
