Culinary Workers Union Local 226 held a protest outside the Trump International Hotel to let their boss Donald Trump know that Las Vegas was “a union town.” The Thursday rally was quiet for approximately an hour and then things changed once the clock struck 6pm.
On Fashion Show Drive two lines were formed by the demonstrators and some of them were rocking to the sounds of “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge. Hundreds of individuals from the old Riviera joined the party from Las Vegas Boulevard and the protest was ready to begin. Pretty soon the protesters started chanting in unison that they were fighting for union representation; passersby could hear the people shouting “What do we want? Contracts! When do we want them? Now!” Additionally, the crowd was equipped with signs with slogans like “No Contract. No Peace.”
One of the people who spoke at the rally was State Senator Ruben Kihuen. He used the opportunity to send a message for the casino owner and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Las Vegas was a union town. The State Senator, who’s running for Congress, added that it was a shame that Trump was running for president of the country, but he didn’t understand how elections work. Kihuen concluded that “fifty-one percent want union.”
Maria Jaramillo, 37, was one of the workers who feel strongly about the demonstrators’ cause. The housekeeper revealed that she has been employed at the hotel for about seven years, but since her and her colleagues weren’t part of a unionised hotel they were treated like “second class” citizens. Therefore, Jaramillo pointed out that she wanted a union contract in order to get the benefits and work protection that come with it.