AN INDEPENDENT LAS VEGAS JOURNALTHE PEOPLE FILES
ARGENT
CITY BUILDERS & CIVIC VOICES

Hattie Canty

A room attendant becomes a union leader

A hotel worker elected in 1990 as Culinary Local 226’s first Black woman president.

Period explored: 1980s–1990sNext Generation1 reading-room sourcesReviewed October 3, 2026
01 / THE STORY

From the hotel workforce

The Culinary Union’s history follows Canty from work as a room attendant at the Maxim to its presidency. Her election placed a casino worker at the center of one of Las Vegas’s most consequential labor institutions. [1]

02 / THE STORY

A prolonged struggle

Her leadership overlapped the Frontier strike that began in September 1991 and continued for more than six years. The union’s history supplies its own account of the campaign and the organizing behind it. [1]

THE CHRONOLOGY

Key dates

  1. 1990

    Elected Culinary Local 226 president. [1]

  2. September 21, 1991

    The Frontier strike begins. [1]

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THE READING ROOM

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Sources for this profile and starting points for further research. Access notes mark links we could not open directly during the October 3–4, 2026 checks. Historical accounts describe their own period; they do not necessarily describe current operations.

  1. 1

    Culinary Workers Union Local 226 · Union history

    Our History

    The union’s account of its organizing and leadership; an institutional perspective.