One year after the Las Vegas Strip’s casinos narrowly avoided tens of thousands of hospitality workers going on strike days before the city was set to host its first Formula One race, workers at an off-Strip casino walked off the job following a contentious fight for a new contract.
Hospitality staff at the off-Strip Virgin Hotels Las Vegas went on strike on Friday, November 15, marking the first open-ended strike in 22 years for the Culinary Workers Union, the largest labor union in Nevada, which has about 60,000 members. The union posted about the labor action on its social media on Friday, November 15: “@VirginHotelsLV casino is ON STRIKE! Virgin hotel workers are walking out RIGHT NOW at Virgin Las Vegas for a fair contract! Stand with the workers, DO NOT CROSS THE STRIKE LINE!”
In a news release, Culinary Union secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge stated that the company’s proposal worked out to be an estimated 30 cents per year added to wages over five years, after deducting money for benefits. “Workers at Virgin Las Vegas deserve a first-class contract with fair wage increases, and they are organized and ready to strike for it,” Pappageorge stated in the release. The union is pushing for Virgin’s 700 hospitality workers to win a new five-year union contract with increased wages and says that Virgin Hotels does not want to give its workers any wage increases during the first three years of that contract. “The Virgin Las Vegas’ proposal is miles apart and is an insult to every worker,” says Pappageorge.
The strike will impact all major areas of operations at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, including housekeeping, food and beverage departments, and the following unionized restaurants: Casa Calavera, Funny Library Coffee Shop, Juice Bar, the Bar at Commons Club, the Kitchen at Commons Club, and the Shag Room.
Almost exactly one year ago, Culinary Union members reached an agreement with on-Strip casino employers just before the strike deadline for a new contract — one that included a roughly 32 percent salary increase over the life of the contract, including a 10 percent bump in pay in the first year. While Friday’s strike is significantly smaller than the ones that were anticipated last year, the walkout will still cause disruptions for the 1,500-room property just off the Las Vegas Strip — especially in anticipation of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix that kicks off Thursday, November 21. It is the union’s first open-ended strike since 2002, when workers walked off the job for 10 days at the Golden Gate hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
Culinary Union members from the Las Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas will join the strike line in solidarity to picket on Saturday, November 16 and the union requests that customers do not cross the picket line. Virgin Hotels Las Vegas did not respond to a request for comment.
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