Workers at Binion’s Hotel in Las Vegas to Vote on Pact to End 9-Month Strike

LAS VEGAS — The end of Las Vegas’ most bitter labor dispute in years appears near at Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, where 600 workers have been on the picket lines for more than nine months.

Employees will vote on a new three-year contract offer today. It was approved Monday night by the 30-member negotiating committee representing Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165. The new proposal was presented to the union Sunday night after negotiations between top union and management officials. It calls for a raise of at least $1.25 an hour for non-tipped employees and 63 cents an hour for tipped employees.

Hotel President Jack Binion said the unions received the health and welfare increases they had sought. Culinary union leader Jim Arnold said he was “delighted that this long struggle is coming to an end.”

About 650 of nearly 1,200 union employees walked off the job Jan. 27 after the two sides failed to agree on a new contract to replace a five-year pact that expired in June, 1989.

Strikers continued to picket the resort, often bringing in high-profile union or political officials such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson to rally the workers.