Today the G2E fair in Las Vegas begins, a means of strong tension between the main casinos and the employee unions. This year there is a record number of union actions in the United States as the number of workers involved in strikes reached at least 411,000, the highest number since 2019, according to the latest data.
The 2023 edition of Global Gaming Expo, better known as G2E, kicked off at The Venetian Expo overnight, with organizers advising strong exhibitor and attendee numbers.
At a press conference held for attending media yesterday Maureen Beddis, Senior Vice President of the American Gaming Association, and Korbi Carrison, G2E Event Vice President at RX, said this year’s show will cover 269,000 square feet of exhibition space and showcase 368 exhibitors. This is up from 252,000 square feet and 350 exhibitors last year.
During the talks yesterday Holly Cook Macarro say “We’re in the middle of a renaissance in media, in politics, across the board,” principal at The Angle consulting firm in Washington, D.C. “Tribal gaming has fueled so much of that. We’re sending our kids to college. We’re giving our kids the opportunity to see people in places they’ve never seen them before. Indian Gaming, with that stability and economic revenue, has put us there.”
The strikes making noise on USA
Workers in various sectors have gone on strike, including the automotive, healthcare, entertainment, hospitality, and airline industries. This year's strikes also lasted longer than in recent times, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Cornell University's Union Action Registry.
On Friday, more than 75,000 healthcare workers continued to demonstrate across the United States, making it the largest industry strike in the history of the North American country. The strike, which began on Wednesday, has entered its final day. But union leaders and their employer, the California-based nonprofit health care organization Kaiser Permanente, have not reached an agreement on wages and solutions to staffing shortages.
After negotiations collapsed Wednesday, both sides scheduled additional sessions for Oct. 12 and 13, the unions said Friday. Another major healthcare provider, Tenet Healthcare Corp., could be next to face a mass work stoppage as healthcare workers at the company's 11 facilities plan to stop starting Oct. 23 if a deal is not reached. before October 19, according to his union.
Tenet workers also called for pay increases and solutions to staffing shortages. Healthcare professionals at Kaiser and Tenet are following in the footsteps of 7,000 nurses at two major New York City hospitals who demonstrated earlier this year over similar demands.
More than 25,000 workers from the "big three" automotive manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis are also on strike. The workers have been on strike since mid-September.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which represents striking workers, has twice extended the strikes, citing a lack of "significant progress." The union has been adding striking workers in recent weeks and indicated the number could increase if necessary.
The strike this year in Hollywood was the second largest work stoppage in the last 30 years, combining dual strikes by writers and actors. In terms of workers on strike, it is only followed by the United Parcel Service (UPS) strikes in 1997, with a mobilization of 180,000 delivery workers who stopped working for two weeks.
But the Hollywood strike lasted much longer. Since May 2, some 11,500 Hollywood writers went on strike for nearly five months before the Writers Guild of America (WGA) reached an agreement with major studios late last month.
The actors joined the strike in July and their union, which represents about 160,000 artists, is still in negotiations with studios and streaming companies. Since July, about 20,000 Southern California hotel workers have also left their jobs. Union leaders are demanding better wages, better health care, higher pension contributions, more safety protections, and less strenuous workloads, among other benefits.
In late September, approximately 53,000 Las Vegas hotel workers voted to authorize a strike while they began negotiations with hotels and casinos over new contracts.
Culinary Workers Local 226, which has been involved in lengthy contract negotiations with the Strip’s largest employers, plans to form “massive” informational picket lines in front of the companies’ resorts Thursday and will ask visitors not to enter the hotel casinos, this week.
In late August, 26,000 American Airlines flight attendants voted to authorize a strike if the company refuses to accept "reasonable" contract terms. Analysts noted that the rise in organized labor movements is due, in part, to labor market shortages and inflation. Recent low unemployment rates have increased workers' influence as many employer’s scramble to compete for workers amid growing resignations and early retirements.
High inflation has also significantly eroded the purchasing power of wages. Although workers' wages have increased, most Americans' incomes have not grown as much as rent and food.
