Wynn, Culinary negotiating over scheduling, healthcare for union workers

Wynn Resorts Ltd. says the local Culinary and Bartenders unions are requiring schedule changes, a move the company says would force layoffs.

Since reopening the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore in June, the casino operator has assigned its employees fewer hours to try to keep as many working as possible, according to a letter sent to staff on Monday. That could change Jan. 11.

Last week, Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 took action to force Wynn to return to union rules requiring full-time employees be scheduled to work 40 hours a week, Wynn said in the letter. The Culinary union said Tuesday that it is continuing to negotiate with Wynn because it did not agree to pay for an additional four months of health care benefits for the roughly 5,000 unionized employees at Wynn and Encore.

Health benefits for an undisclosed number of furloughed Wynn employees were set to expire after Oct. 31. The Culinary union has said roughly 50 percent of its members are still furloughed, but it’s unclear how many of those are Wynn employees.

The union said Tuesday that it has agreed to let 23 Strip casino-resorts schedule flexible work hours to reduce layoffs in exchange for the additional health care benefits. This includes MGM Resorts International’s properties, Caesars Entertainment Inc.’s properties and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

“Culinary Union urges Wynn Resorts to protect their employees and agree to extend health care benefits for their workers,” union secretary-treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline said in the statement.

Wynn said these changes to its scheduling will force “many employees” into layoff status, and require rebidding the shift for the majority of employees, “disrupting so many lives.”

“More people working fewer hours has created consistency and predictability at a time our employees most need it,” according to the letter, which a company spokesperson shared with the Review-Journal.

According to Wynn, the unions agreed on Saturday to delay the schedule change until Jan. 11, after the holidays. Wynn said it “must comply” with the union’s demand, although it would “prefer to keep things as they are now and avoid the disruption.”

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.