“We think be incredibly damaging for workers if it's just completely unchecked.”Ī promotional blog post by Barry Fieldman, a managing member at Smartender manufacturer Smart Bar USA, states that its technology is often met with “resistance and skepticism” that it is designed to directly replace humans. “Folks who work 20 years in a hotel and you're eliminated or laid off because of technology, that's a $40,000 severance check,” Pappageorge said. Though official contract language was not released, union officials said some of the protections include six months’ notice ahead of new technology implementation, access to and training for any new jobs created by technology, and a health care and severance package for unionized workers laid off because of new technology.

You don't get rid of the talent.”Īt a press conference during the contract dispute, Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer, said that the resort companies had “gone backwards” negotiating their requests surrounding automation and technology.īut after finally reaching a tentative deal on new five-year contracts that averted strikes at the largest Strip properties - MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Las Vegas - Pappageorge said the agreements include increased safety protections for workers on the job and expanded technology contract language.

You might eliminate the position but not the person. “When I used to work in the hotels, there were switchboard operators. “Historically, technology has always created more jobs, new jobs,” Erdem said. UNLV School of Hospitality professor Mehmet Erdem said that having technology in the industry is “inescapable,” and not adapting would make the companies “fall behind.” In a 2019 press release MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay, announced a companywide effort to “reduce costs, improve efficiencies” and “maximize profitability” by investing in technology. Evans Earl, who has been in the industry for 24 years, spoke about her experience in an interview with The Nevada Independent and at a press briefing hosted by the Culinary Union, which made its goal of putting guardrails on automation to prevent job losses a key tenet of negotiations before agreeing to contracts earlier this month with major Las Vegas Strip hotel companies.

Casino on union