Tuesday, Feb. 9, 1999 | 11:57 a.m.
Calling for a drink at the MGM Grand hotel-casino will present aesthetic choices starting next month, when each of 180 cocktail waitresses will be wearing her pick of two different uniforms.
Some will be in gold. Others in black. And some will have a little more flesh showing than their counterparts.
The two-costume plan represents a victory for some waitresses who were loath to wear the new gold uniform because it exposed too much cleavage and too much of their buttocks.
After a 3-hour meeting between waitresses, union representatives and management last week, MGM officials agreed to allow those waitresses who are more comfortable in the current black uniforms to continue to wear them after the March 1 introduction of the new costume.
"I think it may be confusing to the customers, but that concern is offset by our concern for the comfort of our servers," said Cindy Kaiser Murphey, MGM human resources senior vice president.
Presently, the cocktail waitresses wear black uniforms that include a tiny skirt and jacket -- attire that might be considered modest by Las Vegas standards. Cocktail servers at some other casinos, such as the Rio, wear more revealing uniforms.
"Basically the black uniform has not been updated in a long time, and we're changing the color scheme here," said Kaiser Murphey. "We've moved more toward the 'City of Entertainment,' glamour and Hollywood theme. All of our costumes are being changed to be consistent -- we're making a lot of changes."
On Friday, more than 40 off-duty cocktail servers filed into an MGM conference room to protest the new uniforms. One brought a poster board with pictures of uniforms at other resorts, several brought notes and clipboards and some had kids in tow.
"It is very important to us. I was really happy that (management) met with us and they listened to our concerns and that they've agreed to give us a choice," said Rachel Arganbright, the cocktail server union steward at the MGM.
In the few cases where cocktail servers are men, bikini bottoms are not issued.
"Certain jobs predominantly attract one gender," said Kaiser Murphey. She said although "the function of a cocktail server is to serve drinks," skimpy uniforms are issued because "cocktail servers are the signature of any property."
"Look at the history of Las Vegas," she said.
Cocktail waitresses earn a base salary plus tips. Annual income for Las Vegas cocktail servers varies widely depending on the casino and the shift, with some reporting earnings of $70,000 or more, and others earning half as much.
"Cocktail serving is a highly sought-after career," said Kaiser Murphey.
In the past decade, Las Vegas cocktail server uniforms have been the subject of several labor debates and lawsuits.
Eleven cocktail waitresses filed a discrimination lawsuit two years ago against the Mirage hotel-casino, claiming they had been told to either lose weight or lose their jobs.
Also in 1997, two servers filed a lawsuit against the Imperial Palace for its practice of moving pregnant waitresses who couldn't wear the skimpy costumes to lower paying jobs.
Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Paul Miller then compared the casino cocktail serving profession to that of airline stewardesses 20 years ago, when the industry assumed flight attendants needed to have sexual appeal.
"We now all recognize that such stereotypes have no place in the airline industry," Miller said.
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