Striking during Super Bowl weekend is destructive for entire community

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 reached tentative five-year employment contract agreements this week with a number of properties located in the strip corridor and downtown Las Vegas. The agreements ensure that those properties will not experience a strike during the upcoming Super Bowl weekend.

However, as of press time, almost 2,000 workers at two downtown properties and one Strip-adjacent property continue to prepare for a strike. Even if these properties reach an agreement prior to the Monday strike deadline, the repeated threat of a strike during highly visible large-scale events such as the Super Bowl represents an unnecessarily serious threat with implications that go far beyond game day.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is expecting more than 300,000 people to travel to Las Vegas specifically for the big game along with normal tourism for this time of the year. Given that we’re still relatively new to NFL football and each team’s fanbase has only had a handful of opportunities to attend games at Allegiant, there’s good reason to believe many of those in attendance could be first-time visitors to the Entertainment Capital of the World.

For many visitors, the Super Bowl is an event they’ve dreamed of attending for many years, and it’s extra special because it’s in Las Vegas. These visitors are counting on memories for a lifetime while they visit here. The threat of a strike impacts the narrative and coverage of the event, inserting anxiety and uncertainty into those memories before they have even formed, even for those not staying at the affected properties.

To be clear, the frustration of the workers is understandable. Culinary workers deserve not only ample wages and benefits, but also recognition for being the backbone of our region’s economy and the heartbeat of our communities.

However, the union’s tactic of targeting Super Bowl weekend poses the risk of an unreasonable economic blow to the entire region, endangering innocent businesses and community members who, like the Culinary workers, rely on a robust tourism economy and tipped wages.

There is no question that the city’s hospitality workers deserve contracts that provide them and their families with greater compensation, reliable and accessible health care, increased job security and ongoing investments in workplace health, safety and security.

But by threatening to go on strike the Monday before the Super Bowl, the union is attempting to put extremely harsh screws to the resorts it’s negotiating with and to use the NFL’s megaphone to amplify their message. Unfortunately, the same media spotlight shining on big game festivities is also shining on the city as a whole. By thrusting iconic properties into chaos during such a prominent event, Culinary risks harm to innocent people and businesses.

Moreover, as we wrote in response to the threat of strikes during the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, witnessing the dominant union in the region deliberately damage a special event for its own purposes could also dissuade other organizations from trying to stage big events in Las Vegas for fear of the union exploiting them.

The union’s fundamental message is clear: Las Vegas only succeeds because of hardworking hospitality workers, and they deserve ample compensation, benefits and protection. We agree wholeheartedly with that. But that doesn’t mean targeting a specific event is wise or proper. The union needs to remember that Vegas also only succeeds if visitors leave with a wonderful experience and can’t wait to come back.

With Las Vegas casinos facing a record year for revenues, a strike any time will hit casinos hard. By moving the strike back to after the completion of Super Bowl festivities, the union could still get its message across, but with a lower risk of creating unintended long-term ripple effects.

The properties that have yet to reach a tentative agreement should act in good faith to do so as quickly as possible. But they are not the only companies with a stake in the Super Bowl or a stake in Las Vegas tourism. There are more than 300 hotels and motels in Las Vegas owned by dozens of companies, not to mention the hundreds of restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, museums, transit providers, tour companies and stores that are independently owned small businesses and franchises. Culinary’s beef is not with these businesses and the union should not put these properties at risk for the sake of a stronger negotiating position.

According to the LVCVA, Super Bowl weekend is expected to generate more than $600 million in economic activity in Southern Nevada while introducing potential new visitors to the city and reacquainting others who may not have visited since before the pandemic. Thus, the strike’s timing could have a long-term negative impact if bad experiences reduce repeat visitation by first-time or infrequent visitors lured here by the Super Bowl.

Waiting until after the Super Bowl to engage in a strike would allow the union’s impact to be targeted against the businesses and properties where workers lack a fair contract rather than a scattershot impact on the region’s economy.

We agree that the workers who drive our region’s economy deserve to be seen, heard, appreciated and paid, but we cannot offer our support for a strike deadline that affects Super Bowl weekend. The risks to innocent businesses, business owners, workers and the region as a whole are simply too great. The Culinary Union should reconsider its strike deadline and push it back until after the big game is concluded. Going forward, the union should cease its practice of targeting specific major events with strike threats. The risks to the local economy are simply too great.