Las Vegas is known for being home to one of the most concentrated areas of entertainment and culinary delights in the world. Perhaps this is why the Culinary Union is the largest labor union in the state of Nevada. Representing thousands of restaurant service employees, including waiters, bartenders and maids, the Culinary Union is now getting itself ready for new contract negotiations between casino resort operators and over 50,000 restaurant employees.

The Las Vegas Sun recently reported on the recent movements of the Culinary Union, which this last Tuesday, held the first of two planned meetings to discuss potential strategies for handling unforeseen circumstances regarding new contract negotiations. Current contracts will expire on June 1, 2007, which were put into place as part of collective bargaining agreements in 2002.  However, since that time, the casino gambling industry in Las Vegas has and continues to go through prodigious changes.

Part of what the 1,000 Union workers in attendance at the Cashman Center were discussing was to determine if there were any companies that could potentially try to take away some of the current contract negotiations that the Union had previously fought hard to obtain. What makes the current times uncertain is that most of the largest casino resort companies in Las Vegas have been bought out since the original contracts. The Las Vegas Hilton was bought out by Colony Capital in 2004, MGM acquired the Mandalay Resort Group in 2005, Harrah's snatched up Caesar's Entertainment in 2005, and now Harrah's has agreed to sell to two private equity firms.

With ownership changes comes the likely possibility of having to negotiate contracts under new terms. What all Union members are on the same page about is that living expenses have increased since 2002, and that new contracts will certainly need provisions for employees to maintain their lifestyles with suitable wages, have good healthcare and a real biggie - job security.

Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer, D. Taylor, said he is hoping gaming companies will be willing to come to the table and begin early negotiations. By getting an early start, Taylor says both sides will be better prepared to avoid any pitfalls, such as the cases was in New Jersey, where workers went on a 30-day day at seven Atlantic City casinos.