National Skills Summit

National Skills Summit
Innovative Initiatives: Retail

Culinary Workers and Bartenders Union Local 226 And
Las Vegas Hotels: Culinary Union Training Center (CUTC)

The Challenge:

To provide numerous skilled employees for the restaurants and hotels in Las Vegas that require staffing 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Solution:

Creating a job center that provides free and comprehensive training for individuals looking to enter the hospitality industry.

The Partners:

Culinary Workers and Bartenders Union Local 226 organizes and runs the training programs at the Culinary Union Training Center.

Las Vegas Hotels including Bally's Las Vegas, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Circus Circus, Desert Inn Resort & Casino, Excalibur Hotel-Casino, Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas, Four Seasons, Harrah's Las Vegas, Las Vegas Hilton, Luxor Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Maxim Hotel/Casino, MGM Grand Hotel/Casino, The Mirage, Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, Paris Las Vegs, Riviera Hotel & Casino, Sahara Hotel and Casino, Slots A Fun, Stardust Hotel & Casino, Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, Treasure Island at the Mirage, and Tropicana Resort & Casino

The Story:

The Culinary Union Training Center (CUTC), established in 1993, provides free job training for people who are looking for work in a hotel, but do not have the required job skills or work experience. All employees represented by the Culinary and Bartenders Unions are eligible to take classes at CUTC, as are all potential applicants for hospitality jobs who register at the Culinary Union hiring hall.

The center incorporates life skills training into the regular program and offers classes in English as a second language. Students can train for 12 different job classifications. Training times range from two to 12 weeks, depending on the job.

The main training center is in the Days Inn Downtown where a full-service restaurant is open to the public providing real work experience to the students. A second training location in a City of Las Vegas Housing Authority apartment complex provides simulated guest rooms for housekeeping training classes.

CUTC's management continually develops and revises the curriculum based on surveys and consultations with hotel supervisors to ensure they are meeting the employers' needs. Students for CUTC's training programs are recruited from a number of sources besides those registered for work at the Culinary Union. Potential trainees and workers are recruited from local, state, and private agencies including Clark County High Schools through their School-to-Work program, Nevada state welfare and unemployment agencies, and all agencies working with homeless persons, displaced workers, and battered women.

A Model of Innovation:

Establishing the training center as a free union benefit to all members offers huge incentives to people who are considering entering the hospitality industry as a career option. It provides these potential workers with the quality training they need to improve their skills as well as the tools to become successful and climb the career ladder. A central training center also offers hotels and restaurants a large, readily available, and qualified pool of potential workers that is easily accessible.

About 2,500 students graduate each year. Graduates are so valued that the hotels set up hiring tables outside the graduation ceremonies. Several hotels report a 50 percent reduction in turnover with CUTC graduates. CUTC regularly invites union members from other cities to attend and model their success.

Contacts:

Julie Pearlman
Culinary Workers Union Local 226
1620 S. Commerce Street
Las Vegas, NV 89102
702-386-5265 (p)
702-386-0845 (f)

Mark Solomon
Director
CulinaryUnion Training Center (CUTC)
1620 S. Commerce Street
Las Vegas, NV 89102
702-385-1179 (p)
702-385- 4418 (f)