-As we've shown you, technology can certainly help us, but it does have limitations as expressed by Elena Newman, a Culinary Union Executive Board Member and a Guest Room Attendant on the Las Vegas Strip.

(Elena Newman) Your smartphone doesn't clean rooms.

We clean rooms.

[applause] Where in the world they can find a smartphone that clean rooms?

We clean the rooms.

-Newman participated in a panel called "When Workers Fight, We Win" at CES's Labor Innovation and Technology Summit.

And here now to expand on what was discussed is Ted Pappageorge, Secretary Treasurer for the Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers.

Thank you for joining us.

(Ted Pappageorg) It's my pleasure to be here.

-I want to run another excerpt from the guest room attendant we just heard from.

And in it, she talks about a recent Culinary Union victory involving smartphones.

Let's take a listen.

-We decide which room to clean, because if there's a smartphone decide which one to clean, they will send us to different floor, different wing.

Imagine pushing that heavy heart-- I mean, heavy cart full of stuff, running here and there.

Where are you going to get your energy to finish your credit?

-All right.

So help me understand how this worked.

At what point did hotels say, You got to start using a smartphone to determine the order in which you clean rooms?

-Well, that's been around for quite a long time, but the reality is technology is something that we deal with in every level in the service industry, whether it's mobile ordering or robotic bartenders or smartphones or tablets that a guest room attendant and room cleaner has to use in order to be able to get their daily work done.

Cleaning rooms is physical work; it's hard work.

And those guest room attendants have to be able to put their day together to hit their quotas.

And what happens is we had a big fight with the companies on this about the smartphones and these tablets that will send a guest room attendant all over the hotel, chasing checkouts we call it, instead of being able to maintain their station and be able to do the work in a reasonable and safe manner.

And we won that fight.

And Elena talked about it, but we had a lot of other issues when it comes to dealing with technology and workload, especially with housekeepers.

And this last contract that we negotiated, we're really proud of it and we did well.

-So then in that situation, were more rooms ending up getting cleaned as a result of the smartphone's orders?

-No.

No, we don't think so.

And what happened is it's very disruptive.

And there's a few things that happened, and you all, when you stay in a nice hotel like one in Las Vegas and you see the room cleaners pushing these very large carts, the smartphones would sequence themselves.

So the split second a room is available, they would move them out of their stations to 10 floors above to the next checkout.

We call that "chasing checkouts."

And it just added incredibly to the workload and wear and tear on these workers.

And so we weren't gonna accept that.

And it was a strike issue to be able to deal with reducing workload per guest room attendant, making sure that we had stations that folks could work in, and then daily room cleaning to make sure that rooms aren't dirty day after day to make the work even harder and kind of reduced the experience for the guests.

Then on top of that, just dealing with technology and these recent contracts.

It was-- they were all strike issues, and luckily, the companies came around and we got a fair agreement.

-And I was taken aback by her talking about smartphones, because they've been around for a long time.

And when I thought of what the Culinary Union might be concerned about, I am thinking robotics.

I'm thinking a housekeeper like from The Jetsons.

What are the types of technology that here and now are really concerning you?

-Well, let me just take a little step back, because the issue of what we do in negotiations with tech means that we've got three areas we have to deal with.

And that's with this issue of notification.

Our contract says they gotta tell us six months ahead of time before they bring in new technology that can eliminate a job.

Then our contract says you've got to give training, and it's free and required that the company gives it or our training academy gives it.

And then if folks are left behind, there's a safety net with a severance and health care and pension.

And we need that because it's the idea of robotics combined with artificial intelligence.

In 2018, we had a huge fight.

It was the last issue before the strike was our tech language, which was brand new.

But we fought with these companies for the last five years over properly introducing tech and not just throwing out workers like old shoes.

But then this time, the idea of artificial intelligence, there's just so many more capabilities.

So whether it's mobile ordering or trying to eliminate cashiers or eliminating a food server or sequencing and using smartphones and tablets in the rooms, robotic bartenders that push out mass drinks, you know, not these kind of novelty type bartenders you see in the front window of the mall-- -Like at Planet Hollywood.

-Exactly.

So those issues are job security issues, and they have become top issues along with health care, wages, pension, and job security.

-And I was wondering, I mean, how many jobs have been lost to technology within the Culinary Union?

-Well, we've lost 10,000 jobs, our union, coming out of the pandemic.

It was a combination of companies are quick to lay off and slow to bring workers back to work.

So that's part of it and trying to preserve these, these profit margins by having less workers doing more work.

But then there's this issue of technology, and we've been able to organize and grow, which is the number one priority of any union, like any company.

They want to grow?

We have to grow to be able to keep our power and our density.

And so we brought back about 3,000 of those jobs.

We had a big year last year with the Venetian, the Sphere, and the Fontainebleau.

And we'll be negotiating those contracts this year.

But, you know, the issue of jobs being lost by tech is a-- it's a question, because we think there's going to be plenty of jobs in Las Vegas.

The question is we don't know what they're going to look like.

The companies don't know what they're gonna look like.

They just don't know how fast this tech is coming out.

-How much does being at CES help you predict the future?

-Well, it generates a significant amount of fear, first of all, because it's overwhelming.

And the type of robotics and combining that with artificial intelligence, you could panic and say, all right, we're all getting replaced, and the robots are gonna run the world.

But that's really not what happens.

So for us being at CES physically to see the exhibits is only one part.

But the other part is this idea of bringing all of labor together to our labor summit.

And so we spend the second half of each day that we're here with several unions.

We brought our entire staff, over 100 folks, to the summit to really tackle these issues and how we can work together and deal with technology, because we're all carrying something in our pocket that we love and we're never going to get rid of.

Most people would cut their hand off before they get rid of their smartphone.

But the idea of making sure that we get-- our contract says six-month notification.

So they can't bring in tech that's going to affect our jobs without giving a six-month notification.

That means that we're there to deal with prototypes, development, to talk to vendors, and give us enough lead time to really get people the right training so that the company can't eliminate them.

And that discussion happens at the summit with all these other unions to figure out that kind of language.

-Those technology protections are going to be part of the contract that you're negotiating right now with the 21 properties on the Las Vegas Strip and downtown?

-Well, the key piece of that is that with artificial intelligence, the problem is that jobs could be eliminated by introducing a robotics combined with artificial intelligence, but AI can grow and learn.

Capabilities can grow.

So they would have another bite at the apple of potentially eliminating jobs down the road with the same technology.

And our language had to be expanded to make sure that if I'm not eliminated now, but I get eliminated later, I still qualify for notification, I qualify for the training, and I qualify for a severance.

And our severance is $2,000 per year worked.

So if I worked 30 years for the company, that's a $60,000 check if you're eliminating me because of tech.

And that tech language that we won with MGM, Caesars, and Wynn Resorts is the one-- we're negotiating with these 23 other contracts that we have coming up.

And we have a strike deadline coming up of February 2.

-Right.

And to those who would say, That is some unique timing, it's just nine days before the very first Super Bowl in Las Vegas.

Those who claim you're using that as leverage to get better terms, what would you say?

-Look, I would say two things: One is that Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world.

It's sporting capital of the world.

The reality is, every weekend is a big weekend in Las Vegas.

It doesn't matter what weekend it is.

CES is a great example of that.

The other thing I would say is that companies forget that they can't do what they do without the workers.

And these fabulous profits, these record profits, these record room rates, these record margins can't happen without workers.

And we want companies to do well.

They need to do well.

But if they are having a record year, workers should get a record contract.

And these contracts have been expired since June, so we have to have a deadline.

These workers need to know that their jobs are going to be secure.

-As you explained to me off camera, you were working to get the MGM, Caesars, and Wynn deal done, because that's going to lead the way for all these other deals.

-Well, they're the largest companies here, and until they make a decision and we can come to an agreement with or without a strike, no other company is going to move forward.

But this-- -I have to cut you off because we've run out of time, but we're gonna have you back on.

-I'm ready whenever you want to have me.