Unionize

Workers vote to unionize at Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel 

By Julia Carrie Wong

The National Labor Relations Board has officially certified the union election by 500 workers at Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, overruling the objections of the union-averse employer.

“We voted for a union so we could negotiate a fair contract with Mr Trump,” Jeffrey Wise, a food server at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, said in a statement. “We voted and won – now it’s time for him to listen to us, the voters, and finally do the right thing by making a deal with his employees.”

The Culinary Workers Union, which represents more than 50,000 casino and hotel workers in Las Vegas, had sought to capitalize on the Republican presidential candidate’s high profile and anti-immigrant rhetoric to galvanize its organizing campaign. Trump co-owns the hotel with Phillip Ruffin, a billionaire casino owner.

In early December, a majority of the hotel’s more than 500 workers voted in favor of unionizing with Culinary Workers. Since then, the union has dogged Trump on the campaign trail and says it has shown up to protest at a half-dozen rallies and debates.

“Mr Trump says he wants to make America great again – he has a great opportunity to start right here in Las Vegas at his hotel,” said Geocanda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer of the union.

Following the election, the hotel filed 15 objections to the election. After a hearing in January, the hotel withdrew two of those, and an NLRB official overruled the remaining 13.

Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for the Culinary Workers, said the union expects the hotel company to appeal against the certification. If the union survives such an appeal, the hotel would be legally compelled to bargain a contract.

“The company is running out of options. Every time they appeal, the workers have won,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time until the company has to sit down and negotiate.”

According to Khan, workers at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas earn on average $3.33 an hour less than workers at unionized hotels. They also have to pay for their health insurance, while union employees have free family healthcare coverage and a pension.

A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.