For Immediate Release: 2/26/2013
Media contact: Yvanna Cancela, 702-524-8384, ycancela@culinaryunion226.org
Workers to Picket in Protest
Las Vegas -- Deutsche Bank is embroiled in an escalating labor dispute with 2,000 workers at its Cosmopolitan casino resort. Union workers are set to picket the luxury casino in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip on Friday, March 1st. This is the second demonstration at the casino in thirty days, and the escalating labor dispute brings added business risk with respect to the potential sale of the property. These protests are the first against a union casino on the Strip in a decade.
"Deutsche Bank is making enormous profits from hotel stays and food and beverage, yet they don’t value our hard work in these departments. We deserve the same respect and opportunity to provide for our families as other union casino workers in Las Vegas,” says union member George Sproule, a mixologist at The Cosmopolitan. In the departments where most of the bargaining unit is employed, The Cosmopolitan had department profit margins of 77% in hotel rooms, and 32% in food and beverage during the first nine months of 2012.
Deutsche Bank was one of the largest recipients of U.S. government assistance during the financial crisis. It received $11.8 billion of funds used to bail out AIG, and was one of the heaviest users of Federal Reserve programs to stabilize financial institutions in 2008.
What: Workers picketing outside the Cosmopolitan
When: Friday, March 1, 11am-1pm and 5pm-7pm
Where: Outside Cosmopolitan casino on Las Vegas Blvd.
Spokespeople will be available for interviews at both times. Press will be directed to the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Harmon, closest to the West Entrance of the casino. Parking is available at surrounding casinos.