Oct. 04–A picketing Culinary Union will have some opposition outside the Cosmopolitan this weekend.
The Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs (APNJ) plans to counter the Culinary’s picket outside the Strip resort with a demonstration of its own. Their aim runs opposite the feisty labor union.
“Local union bosses have gone to great lengths to deter tourism in Las Vegas, and these protests not only deter people from spending money here but hurt our city and state,” said Ron Futrell, APNJ spokesman. “Our goal is to support the local economy, and we will continue to educate employees and citizens on the efforts union bosses in Nevada are undertaking to hurt the very workers and job creators they should be protecting.”
Members of the APNJ, a project of the Workforce Fairness Institute, will gather outside the Cosmopolitan from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday to thank passing tourists for visiting Las Vegas.
Earlier this year, the Culinary launched a website — Vegastravelalert.com — to warn visitors about potential labor demonstrations on the Strip, listing the Cosmopolitan and properties owned by MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Boyd Gaming.
Representing about 50,000 bartenders, maids and food servers, the Union then vowed to maintain a constant presence outside the Cosmopolitan, where 2,000 workers have been clocking in without a labor agreement for more than two years.
After four major protests outside the $4 billion resort, the Culinary planned to protest every weekend — on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.
The protests will stop, the Culinary contends, when the resort owner, Deutsche Bank, inks solid contracts with its union workers. The Culinary wants 40-hour workweeks, health insurance and job security.
