Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Las Vegas, Nevada Photographs (PH-00382)

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the largest local union of UNITE HERE (the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees), is located in Las Vegas, Nevada and represents over 55,000 hotel, food service, and hospitality workers in Southern Nevada. The Culinary Union, in Las Vegas, was founded in 1938 soon after the passage of the federal National Labor Relations Act. In 1954, union members elected Al Bramlet as Secretary-Treasurer in Las Vegas, and under his leadership the union grew from 1,000 members to 16,000 members by the time of his death in 1977. Bramlet actively recruited African American workers from Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas, diversifying both the Culinary Union and the work force of Nevada’s hospitality industry. The Culinary Union and the casinos of Las Vegas had a symbiotic relationship under Bramlet’s leadership.

In 1967 and 1969, Nevada legislature passed two corporate gaming acts that allowed public corporations to own and operate casinos. These laws changed not only the gaming industry but the labor union strategies and relationships between workers and casino management.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Culinary Union adapted to the new corporate ownership of Las Vegas casinos. The Culinary Union exercised their right to strike in 1976, joining the Bartenders and Musicians Unions in a seventeen-day strike against fifteen hotels that refused to sign new union contracts. This economically devastating and violent strike ended in compromise with new contracts for Culinary Union workers. The conflicted relationship between the Culinary Union and casinos resulted in another strike in 1984. The Culinary Union walked out against multiple Nevada Resort Association (NRA) properties in a strike that lasted two months. Police arrested over 900 strikers over the course of the strike and six hotels refused to sign contracts.

After the unsuccessful 1984 strike the Culinary Union reorganized and elected new leadership. The union organization shifted from top-down to rank-and-file leadership, greatly democratizing the union of nearly 18,000 workers. Union members elected Jim Arnold as Secretary-Treasurer in 1987. Arnold, along with union President Hattie Canty, successfully negotiated numerous bargaining agreements with Las Vegas Strip and Downtown hotels and casinos in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 1991, Culinary Union members began a strike on the Frontier Hotel after the owners removed significant benefits from worker contracts. The Frontier Strike became one of the longest lasting strikes in United States history, ending in 1998 after the Elardi family sold the Frontier Hotel to Phil Ruffin, who quickly signed a union contract.

In recent years, the Culinary Union focused on building relationships and contracts that mutually benefitted both worker and corporation. The Culinary Union also established a Culinary Training Center, the Citizenship Project, and the Housing Trust Fund. These projects help workers learn new skills, gain U.S. citizenship, and purchase homes. The Culinary Union’s endorsement of political candidates is also significant. In 2008, Las Vegas hosted the 2008 Democratic Caucus, where the Culinary Union, on behalf of UNITE HERE, became the first major union to endorse eventual President Barack Obama. As of 2014, union membership reached 55,000 members.

Kraft, James P. Vegas at Odds: Labor Conflict in a Leisure Economy, 1960-1985. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.