If Las Vegas were to devise a hospitality Armageddon, it would look something like this:

You’d have an event — in this case, a Formula 1 race — expected to bring some 100,000 tourists into town. Many of those guests would be well-heeled and demanding, and many of them would have paid astronomical prices to secure a suite in one of Sin City’s multitude of resorts. The resorts would have made plans to host exclusive parties at their restaurants and bars throughout the week before a race scheduled Nov. 18.

Speaking of those resorts, the union that represents their bartenders, cocktail servers, restaurant workers, and housekeepers has promised to strike if it can’t come to terms with three of the biggest employers on the Strip. The deadline set for an agreement to be reached is this Friday, creating the specter of one of the biggest events in Las Vegas history having to be executed without a massive, critical component of its workforce.

Such a doomsday scenario was partially averted Wednesday morning when, according to a Reuters report, Culinary Local 226 came to terms with Caesars Entertainment, which operates nine Vegas properties that employ some 10,000 union members.

Smart money would be on this agreement having a domino effect, but just two days before a stalemate would trigger a work stoppage, MGM and Wynn had yet to cut a deal with Local 226. Together, eventual deals would encompass 10 Vegas properties and some 30,000 union employees.

A Vegas union, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, reached a tentative agreement with Caesars on a new 5-yr deal. The agreement covers about 10K hospitality workers at 9 Vegas properties. The agreement avoids a strike heading into next week's inaugural #Formula1 Vegas Grand Prix pic.twitter.com/nVvmiZYMPb

— Matt Rybaltowski (@MattRybaltowski) November 8, 2023

‘Massive leverage’

The casino operators and the culinary union have been in negotiations for approximately seven months, a period that has seen Las Vegans in general forge a love-hate relationship with F1 and the requisite preparations for the circuit’s first race in Vegas since the 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix. 

Traffic disruptions have been manifold as officials and construction workers continue to get the Strip ready to host the race, a process that has included the erection of new overpasses and substantial repaving so one of America’s most famous boulevards isn’t torn to shreds by the fastest vehicles in the world.

But if MGM and Wynn can’t come to terms with their hospitality workers, it won’t just be the locals who are upset. 

On Monday, the Nevada Current reported that MGM was prepping for a potential strike by having its managers — who aren’t part of the union – obtain alcohol management cards, seemingly indicating that it will staff its bars with or without its usual employees.

When informed of MGM’s drink-pouring plans, union spokesperson Bethan Khan told the Current, “Good luck to them! They also need to clean rooms, wash dishes, clean the casino floor, make the drinks, cook the food, serve the guests, and everything else.”

“Try and knock out thousands of meals daily on systems you do not understand. It is embarrassing, funny, and somewhat dangerous,” US Bets contributor and longtime gaming executive Richard Schuetz told the Current. “The union has massive leverage because of F1, and they know it.”

Photo: Dan Istitene/Formula 1 via Getty Images