Trump International Hotel Las Vegas: Years of Refusing to Bargain with Unionized Workers Despite NLRB Orders
Tier 1Resolved2014-06-01 to 2018-11-01
Factual Summary
Workers at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, a 64-story luxury hotel and condominium tower on the Las Vegas Strip, engaged in a multi-year fight for union representation and a collective bargaining agreement that was marked by repeated unfair labor practice findings against the hotel.
The organizing effort began in 2014, when employees working as housekeepers, porters, cooks, bartenders, and other hospitality positions sought representation by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, both affiliates of UNITE HERE. In June 2014, the hotel suspended five employees for wearing union buttons at work, an action the National Labor Relations Board later found to be an unfair labor practice. The NLRB general counsel issued multiple complaints against the hotel, alleging that management had fired union supporters, denied job transfers to employees who supported the union, promised more favorable working conditions to workers who abandoned union support, interrogated employees about their organizing activities, and maintained rules that illegally prohibited employees from communicating with each other and with the public about workplace conditions.
On December 4 and 5, 2015, the hotel's workers voted in an NLRB-supervised election to unionize. The hotel filed objections to the election results, which the NLRB Regional Director rejected. The NLRB certified the Culinary and Bartenders Union as the legal collective bargaining representative of more than 500 workers. Despite the certification, the Trump Hotel refused to recognize the union or negotiate a contract.
In March 2016, the hotel agreed to a settlement with the NLRB, paying two workers $11,200 in lost wages after the general counsel found that the company had fired a union supporter and denied a transfer to another employee in retaliation for union activity. The NLRB issued three separate unfair labor practice complaints against the hotel during the organizing and bargaining period.
The dispute gained national attention during the 2016 presidential campaign, as Trump was simultaneously running on a platform of economic populism while his own hotel was fighting its workers' unionization efforts. Workers at the hotel held public protests and picket lines. NPR reported in December 2016 that the conflict presented a direct conflict of interest, since as president Trump would appoint members to the very NLRB that was adjudicating complaints against his hotel.
Workers at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas ultimately obtained a four-year collective bargaining agreement, effective January 1, 2017. The contract came after more than two years of sustained worker pressure, multiple NLRB complaints, public protests, and significant negative publicity during the presidential campaign. In November 2018, the hotel and the union reached a successor agreement.
Primary Sources
1. NLRB unfair labor practice complaints against Trump International Hotel Las Vegas (three separate complaints, 2014-2016)
2. NLRB election certification, December 2015, certifying Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165
3. NLRB settlement agreement, March 2016, requiring $11,200 in back pay
4. Collective bargaining agreement, effective January 1, 2017
Corroborating Sources
1. NPR: "As President, Trump Will Appoint Labor Board That Regulates His Hotels," December 22, 2016
2. Capital and Main: "Trump Hotel Agrees to Labor Settlement," July 2016
3. Culinary Union Local 226 press release: "Trump Hotel Las Vegas agrees to $11,200 settlement after treating employees unfairly," March 2016
4. PR Newswire: "Workers at Trump Las Vegas Are Officially Unionized," February 2016
5. Common Dreams: "Trump Hotel Workers Just Proved 'We Can Take On the Powerful and Win,'" December 21, 2016
6. United Steelworkers: "Trump's Vegas Hotel Refuses To Recognize Its Workers' Union," 2015
Counterarguments and Context
The Trump Organization argued that its objections to the union election were procedurally legitimate and that the hotel operated within its legal rights during the bargaining process. Hotel management disputed some of the NLRB's findings and characterized the unfair labor practice complaints as the product of a biased federal agency. Supporters of the hotel's position noted that labor disputes and NLRB complaints are common in the hospitality industry and that the hotel ultimately reached a collective bargaining agreement, which they characterized as evidence of good faith. However, the NLRB's findings were adjudicated through the federal labor relations process, and the settlements required the hotel to compensate workers for retaliatory conduct. The multi-year delay between the union election and the first contract, combined with three separate unfair labor practice complaints, reflects a pattern of resistance to worker organizing rather than routine bargaining. The conflict of interest created by Trump's simultaneous roles as a hotel owner subject to NLRB jurisdiction and as the incoming president who would appoint NLRB members was noted by multiple news organizations but was never formally resolved.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 1 because the NLRB's unfair labor practice findings, settlements, and election certifications are adjudicated outcomes of a formal federal regulatory process. The workers won their election, the NLRB sustained their complaints, the hotel paid restitution, and a contract was eventually negotiated. The factual record is established through official NLRB proceedings, not through media reporting alone.