Biz Heft Showing Already? Staffers Settle Cases With Trump Hotels

Those cases were to be a litmus test of Donald Trump’s conflict of interest as the President.

The Trump hotel Las Vegas has exterior windows coated in 24 carat gold. (Photo: iStock)

Hotels in Las Vegas and Washington owned by US President-elect Donald Trump have reached agreements with their workers' unions that will bring an end to a series of cases that claim the hotels violated federal labor law, the unions said, on Wednesday.

More than 500 employees of food and beverage and housekeeping at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas have entered into a four-year collective bargaining agreement effective from 1 January that guarantees annual raises and pension and healthcare benefits, Trump Hotels and Unite Here Culinary Workers Union Local 226 said in a joint statement.

Under the agreement, the union will withdraw a series of cases filed with the US National Labour Relations Board against the hotel.

Bethany Khan, Union Spokeswoman

Those cases had been expected to be an early test of how much Trump’s influence as President over the National Labour Relations Board, would handle concerns over conflicts of interest raised by his business holdings.

Last week, Democrats in the US Congress called on Trump to divest from the Washington hotel, which is in a building leased from the federal government, saying the lease would pose a conflict of interest because he would essentially be both its landlord and tenant once he is sworn in.

Eric Danziger, the chief executive of Trump Hotels, called Unite Here Local 25 which is the workers’ union at the Washington hotel an "important partner" in a statement.

We share mutual goals with the union, as we both desire to ensure outstanding jobs for the employees, while also enabling the hotel to operate successfully in a competitive environment.

Eric Danziger

As part of the agreement, the Trump Organization will also end its appeal of a November NLRB decision that said it violated workers' rights to organize at the Las Vegas hotel.

The Trump Organization still faces a pending case at the NLRB claiming it required thousands of US employees to sign unlawfully broad confidentiality agreements.

Separately, Politico reported on Wednesday that Trump's transition team is considering the use of discretionary trusts to avoid conflicts of interest for Trump family members or administration officials.