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A Las Vegas Metro police officer escorts a Culinary Workers Union protestor off the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas casino property Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, in Las Vegas. More than 100 members of the union were arrested after staging a sit-in inside the casino lobby while demonstrating against the casino over a contract dispute with the casino and its owner Deutsche Bank. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
LAS VEGAS >> Some 120 people have been arrested in a union protest against a Las Vegas Strip casino.
Billed as an act of civil disobedience, Friday’s demonstration inside the Cosmopolitan was in support of some 2,000 workers who have worked there for two years without a contract.
The Las Vegas Sun reports the arrests came after protesters sat under the resort’s famed chandelier and ignored officers’ orders to disperse because they were trespassing.
Earlier in the day, over 3,000 Culinary Union picketers blocked three lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard, waving signs and chanting.
On March 20, some 100 Culinary protesters were arrested after they sat in the middle of the same boulevard and blocked traffic.
Labor and Cosmopolitan management have been sparring over wages, health care and job security.
The Cosmopolitan, which was built by a German investment bank after its original developer defaulted, is one of just a handful of non-unionized casinos on the Strip.
A majority of Cosmopolitan service workers signed cards in 2010 saying they wanted representation.
The Culinary, which represents about 60,000 bartenders, maids and food servers, is Sin City’s largest union.
