Workers blocked traffic on the Las Vegas Strip yesterday, Mar. 20, in a protest against the Cosmopolitan casino that resulted in the arrest of almost 100 protesters according to the Associated Press.
Police arrested 98 protesters according to Metro Police Captain Todd Fasulo. Hundreds of tourists gathered at a nearby overpass across Las Vegas Boulevard as police arrived to break up the demonstration.
"If we don't get no contract, you don't get no peace," the workers chanted as they waited to be taken away.
Contract negotiations between Cosmopolitan Las Vegas owner Deutsche Bank and Las Vegas' largest union have been ongoing for the past two years. Towards the beginning of 2013, the 54,000 member union held two one-day demonstrations outside the casino, the first since the Culinary Workers Local 226's picketed on the Strip in 2003.
Cosmopolitan spokeswoman Amy Rossetti stated after the arrests that management is continuing to negotiate with labor to work out a reasonable agreement. The union is in talks with the casino management, not Deutsche Bank directly according to Rossetti.
As she was being arrested, protester Janet Hill decided being sent to jail would send more of a message to management than any sign would be able to.
"They need to give workers here a contract; it affects us all," said Hill, a porter at the Flamingo casino down the Strip according to the Associated Press.
The protest shut down rush hour traffic for over an hour going both directions on the block, which is located right bear the Bellagio, Planet Hollywood and Aria casinos.
Many tourists were "annoyed" with the protest, as it caused them from reaching their destinations during their trip. A few visitors did cheer the workers on however.
"This is a union, and everybody is in it together," said Paulina Corona, a protester who works as a housekeeper at the Mirage hotel-casino. "When there are problems at the Mirage, everyone goes there."
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