LAS VEGAS (AP) — When Susana Pacheco accepted a housekeeping job 16 years ago at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip, she believed it was a step toward stability for her and her 2-year-old daughter.
The historic deals finalized late last year mark a major turning point: For the first time in the Culinary Union's 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized.
Backed by 60,000 members, most of them in Las Vegas, it is the largest labor union in Nevada.
The union's success on the Strip is a notable exception in a national landscape where union membership overall is declining.
He said the consolidation of casinos on the Las Vegas Strip mirrors the dominance of the Big Three automakers in Detroit.
A few powerful companies — MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts — now control most of the dozens of casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard.
Ted Pappageorge, the union's secretary-treasurer and lead negotiator, said the union calls this the "Las Vegas dream.". »