LAS VEGAS (AP) — The longest strike in decades by Las Vegas hotel workers ended Wednesday with a new contract between the union and a casino where hundreds of employees walked off the job in November.
The Culinary Workers Union announced on social media platform In a joint statement, the union and casino said they were ready to overcome their disagreements “for the benefit of all members of the property’s team” following the 69-day strike that began Nov. 15.
Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for the union, said the agreement was reached in recent days and unanimously approved Wednesday by the union’s rank and file. This ends the long and very controversial contract negotiations who had remained in the public spotlight because of disagreements over salary.
The union’s previous contract with Virgin Hotels expired in June 2023. The new contract likely contains significant pay increases similar to those of the union. rest of the union members on the Strip, Downtown and other off-Strip properties have received last year. This includes what the union described as a historic 32% wage increase over five years, an amount that Virgin Hotels says is not “economically viable” for the casino’s future.
But throughout the strike, Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary-treasurer and chief negotiator, repeatedly said Virgin hotel workers would not settle for a “second-class contract.”
Lee McNamara, a cook who has worked there for more than 25 years, told Clark County commissioners in early December that they deserve to receive a living wage like their counterparts at other casinos.
“We do the same amount of work for less pay,” he said. “We are literally the lowest paid union casino right now.”
Even though Virgin Hotels is not located on the Strip, the strike was still very visible to tourists. For months, the union maintained 24 hour picket lines outside the hotel-casino, just steps from the Strip and along a shared route between the main tourist corridor and the city’s international airport.
Workers also blocked traffic at one point during the strike in what they said was an attempt to draw attention to labor problems at the casino, leading to arrests.
Throughout the strike, the union publicly criticized Virgin Hotels for hiring temporary workers who crossed the picket line, a comedian canceled his show in support of the union, and the NFL Players Association pledged to boycott the casino while workers were on strike.
Employees on the picket line included housekeepers, porters, bellboys and waiters. Some said they were willing to stay on the picket line as long as it took, even if it meant getting a second job until a new contract was ratified.
“I’m willing to go as long as it takes, and I’m pretty sure that’s how everyone feels too,” Michael Renick, a bartender who has worked at Virgin Hotels for about two years, told the Associated Press. .
The union last went on strike in 2002, when employees at the Golden Gate hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas stopped work for 10 days. It is the largest union in Nevada, with approximately 60,000 members statewide. Most of them are in Las Vegas.
