Hundreds of Hotel Workers Go on Strike at a Casino Near the Las Vegas Strip | Eater Vegas
"Hospitality staff at the off-Strip property walked off the job on Friday, November 15, marking the Culinary Workers Union’s first open-ended strike in 22 years; the union, Nevada’s largest with about 60,000 members, posted on social media: “@VirginHotelsLV casino is ON STRIKE! [the property] hotel workers are walking out RIGHT NOW at [the property] for a fair contract! Stand with the workers, DO NOT CROSS THE STRIKE LINE!” In a news release, Culinary Union secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge said 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,” and added, “Workers at [the property] deserve a first-class contract with fair wage increases, and they are organized and ready to strike for it.” The union is pushing for the property’s roughly 700 hospitality workers to win a new five-year union contract with increased wages, saying the employer does not want to give any wage increases during the first three years; Pappageorge called the offer “miles apart and ... an insult to every worker.” The walkout will impact all major operations, including housekeeping and food-and-beverage, and the unionized restaurants listed as affected are Casa Calavera, Funny Library Coffee Shop, Juice Bar, the Bar at Commons Club, the Kitchen at Commons Club, and the Shag Room. While much smaller than the large-scale strikes that were narrowly avoided on the Strip a year earlier — when on-Strip employers reached an agreement that included roughly a 32 percent salary increase over the life of the contract, including a 10 percent bump the first year — the action will still disrupt the 1,500-room property just off the Strip ahead of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix that begins Thursday, November 21. Culinary Union members from the Strip and downtown planned to join the picket line in solidarity on Saturday, November 16, and the union requested that customers not cross the picket line; the property did not respond to a request for comment. This is the union’s first open-ended strike since a 10-day walkout at the Golden Gate hotel in downtown Las Vegas in 2002." - Janna Karel
