Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Culinary Union seeks boycott amid Las Vegas Trump hotel impasse

The Culinary Union is calling for a national boycott of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s businesses after management at his Las Vegas hotel has failed to come to the bargaining table for more than nine months, the union announced today.

The union, the certified bargaining representative for workers at the Trump International Hotel, is urging customers not to eat, sleep or spend money at any of Trump’s hotels or golf courses. The boycott call targets businesses that Trump owns, has invested in or has partnered with and remains in effect until the hotel begins negotiations.

Workers at the hotel voted 238-209 in December to join the Culinary Union and the local Bartenders Union. Since, the National Labor Relations Board has certified the results and rejected an appeal from hotel management.

The Culinary Union, part of the national labor union UNITE HERE, represents 57,000 workers on the Las Vegas Strip and in resorts across the state and is Nevada’s most politically powerful labor group. UNITE HERE endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in July.

“While Donald Trump waged an indefensible anti-worker and anti-immigrant presidential campaign, the workers at his Las Vegas hotel fought for dignity and respect in their workplace,” said D. Taylor, president of UNITE HERE, in a statement. “They voted to unionize, they won, and now the law says Trump must negotiate.”

The AFL-CIO, a federation of 56 unions representing more than 12 million workers, will observe the boycott. “(Trump’s) unwillingness to bargain with the hard-working people who make his hotel successful is shameful,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “It tells you all you need to know about his feelings towards all working people."

Union members have staged numerous protests outside Trump International Hotel over the past several months, and union members recently picketed at Trump National Golf Course Los Angeles. The union said more boycott events are planned in the coming days and weeks in San Francisco, Chicago and Waikiki, Hawaii, with more to come in Virginia, New York and Florida.

A representative of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Donald Trump Jr., son of the Republican nominee, said this month in an interview with the Sun at his father’s Las Vegas hotel that he wasn’t aware of any negotiations planned to start soon between hotel management and the union.

“If you look at our history you’d see a history and decades of negotiation,” Trump Jr. told the Sun. “So we’ll see what happens. Everything is a case-by-case basis.”

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy