This Week in Gambling: Las Vegas protest & arrests to block the Strip

Talk about civil disobedience.

Or at least that’s what the Las Vegas union workers are calling what they’re planning for later today Wednesday, 25 October.

The Culinary 226 and Bartenders 165 Unions are asking workers to block Las Vegas Boulevard in front Paris Las Vegas and the Bellagio for up to four hours, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Single-lane closures will commence at 4 p.m., with picketers assembling at both resorts at 5 p.m. Around 6 p.m., approximately 75 hospitality workers will engage in a "non-violent protest action," blocking multiple lanes of traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard until they are arrested by the police.

This of course will cause television crews to film the whole situation and the unions will get the headlines in their effort to get better wages, more benefits, and profit sharing at the major resorts.

What makes this even more interesting though, is that information has been leaked that the unions and some resorts – MGM Grand Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, and Wynn Las Vegas – are in the process of hammering out the details on an already reached new five-year deal with significant pay raises.

Which begs the question, why are the unions calling on their workers to block Las Vegas Boulevard later today?

It appears the answer comes down to politics. Workers pay dues to the unions, so as is customary anytime there’s a transaction, there needs to be results. In this situation, that apparently means sending workers into harm’s way on the Las Vegas Boulevard streets, which will cause an already bad traffic scene to get worse, before going to jail.