Landslide vote to strike
Las Vegas members of a California-based workers union have opted to authorize a strike at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino ahead of a peak activity period that includes the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Teamsters Local 986, which is part of the broader International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) of Jimmy Hoffa fame, referenced the upcoming F1 event, along with others, as an acknowledged pressure point.
working without new contracts since their old ones expired in April 2024
Rio’s owner and operator, New York-based Dreamscape Companies, has been involved in unresolved negotiations with IBT’s Vegas arm over around 100 Teamsters, including front desk workers, who have been working without new contracts since their old ones expired in April 2024.
Faced with hordes of visitors, the Rio staff have chosen a strategic moment to threaten a strike.
Upping the ante
Local 986 president Tim Vera said his union knows “how busy things are going to get for Las Vegas in the coming weeks with Formula 1 races, Thanksgiving, and the National Finals Rodeo.”
put more money in their own pockets”
Vera accused the Rio management of being able to afford the two-years’ stalled contract demands of its members but that Dreamscape “is refusing so they can put more money in their own pockets.”
A front-of-house worker, Jose Culin, said in the union press release that it was “time for the Rio to quit playing games and get serious at the bargaining table.”
Culin, who is also a Local 986 member, said that while Rio staff took pride in their work, the way Dreamscape is treating them was “unacceptable.”
Threat is real
Rather than welcome potential F1, rodeo, and Thanksgiving visitors to the Rio while nursing a grudge for management, the Local 986 members are taking a stand.
“It’s wrong, and the Teamsters are not going to let them get away with it,” said Vera, adding he hoped Dreamscape had the requisite “sense to resolve this issue now.”
ready to do whatever it takes”
Culin, meanwhile, added the “overwhelming strike authorization vote” shows IBT unity, before warning “every single one of us is ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair deal.”
Dreamscape might need to hustle, given the crowd-swarming Grand Prix starts November 20, Thanksgiving a week later, and the National Finals Rodeo from December 4 to 13.
