About 25,000 casino workers voted to authorize a strike after failing to come to an agreement after intense contract negotiations. The unionized workers eligible to strike represent about half of the hospitality employees in the city of Las Vegas.
This union has not gone on a citywide strike since 1984, over thirty years ago. The workers expressed almost complete solidarity in authorizing the strike. with 99% of workers voting in favor of the strike.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 workers who made this authorization are employed by some of the well-known casinos on the Las Vegas strip. Employees work as bartenders, guest room attendants, food servers, cooks and numerous other professions.
The capitalist class is unwilling and unable to provide stable employment and benefits for the working class. As a result, the working class is rising up and using the citywide strike as a tool to fight back against the oppressive oligarchs.
The casino workers must be commended for their effort to organize collectively and their near unanimous solidarity in authorizing the strike. Workers know exactly what is at stake and what they would be striking for.
Chad Neanover, a prep cook at the Margaritaville, a Caesars Entertainment property said “We know technology is coming, but workers shouldn’t be pushed out or left behind.” Workers are demanding a contract that increases workplace safety, addresses sexual harassment complaints, and increases wages.
The working class should see this strike, as well as the numerous teacher strikes sweeping the country, as a sign of increased working class solidarity. During the boom-phase of the capitalist industrial cycle workers should fight to secure concessions from the capitalist class.
Under the capitalist system, however, the working class can never achieve proper working conditions , health care, and education. Capitalism is an irrational system which enriches a small number of people at the expense of the masses, just like a casino.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/23/us/vegas-casino-workers-strike/index.html