Boss News on Culinary - Harrah's Contract

Tentative labour agreement: Harrah's, union sign deal
18 June 2007
by Howard Stutz
Las Vegas Gaming Wire

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- After a marathon negotiating session, Harrah's Entertainment early Friday became the first casino operator to reach a tentative accord on a new collective bargaining agreement with the state's largest labor union.

Terms and details of the new contract, which covers some 15,000 workers represented by Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 at Harrah's Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, Bally's, Paris Las Vegas, Flamingo and the Rio, were not released by the union or Harrah's.

The tentative agreement was negotiated by representatives of Harrah's and a committee of rank-and-file members of the Culinary and Bartenders unions employed at the different Harrah's properties.

Harrah's employees will hear details of the contract proposal today during two separate meetings at Paris Las Vegas. A vote on ratifying the contract will take place after each meeting. Culinary officials said they expect to have results by early in the evening.

"The tentative agreement was overwhelmingly approved and recommended by our negotiating committee, which had several hundred members," Culinary spokeswoman Pilar Weiss said.

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