Culinary threatens to block Strip traffic over Cosmopolitan contract dispute

Ron Sylvester

Members of the Culinary 226 Union protest outside the Cosmopolitan on Friday morning, Mar. 1, 2013.

First, they picketed.

Now, members of the Culinary Union plan to block traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard and let police arrest them.

Union officials say the plight to perform an “act of civil disobedience” — scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday — comes after nearly two years of stalled contract negotiations between some 2,000 workers at the Cosmopolitan and resort owner Deutsche Bank.

The negotiations have included wages, health care costs and job security. The Cosmopolitan is one of the few casinos on the Strip where employees work without a contract.

“As it is, the delay for good contracts at the Cosmopolitan threatens the standard of living that has been established over decades of worker organizing,” said Culinary 226 spokeswoman Yvanna Cancela in a release Monday.

Union members first picketed outside the Cosmopolitan on Jan. 31, marking the first such pushback in a decade. The action prompted a second picketing campaign less than a month later on March 1.

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