Culinary plans Nov. 15 strike at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 announced Friday that 700 non-gaming workers at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas will walk off their jobs Nov. 15 in what would be the labor organization's first full-scale strike in 22 years.
The union issued a statement saying its negotiating committee voted this week to authorize the work stoppage at 5 a.m. next Friday. The union said it was seeking a bargaining session with management a day before the planned strike. The union is urging customers to cancel reservations at Virgin ahead of the strike.
The walkout is scheduled less than a week before the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix. Virgin sits less than a mile east of Grand Prix Plaza and has various sponsorship deals with the race. It is also a drop-off and pick-up point for race fans using a ride-sharing service.
Virgin's contract with the Culinary and its affiliated Bartenders Local 165 expired in June 2023. It is the only Las Vegas property that has not agreed to a new five-year contract with the unions, which reached agreements with companies representing nearly 40 Strip, downtown and off-Strip resorts covering nearly 50,000 non-gaming workers.
In May, Virgin released a three-page letter from Kate Hay, chief human resources officer for resort owner JC Hospitality, that was sent to the union's leadership, spelling out management's modified "last, best and final offer." Hay said the unions have not changed their offer since Feb. 1. Virgin is not offering salary increases in the first three years of the five-year package, but added small increases to the workers' benefits programs.
Meanwhile, Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said Culinary achieved the largest contracts in the union's 89-year history in recent agreements with major Strip resorts, which included a 32 percent salary increase over five years and 10 percent in the first year. The increase amounted to a raise of $3.11 per hour in the first year and $9.21 per hour over the five years.
The average worker earned roughly $28 an hour under the previous contract — including health and pension benefits. By the end of the new five-year deal, the average worker will earn $37 an hour, including benefits — roughly $77,000 a year based on a 40-hour workweek.
The Culinary and Bartenders unions held a 48-hour strike in May to call attention to the stalled contract talks. The unions also had an informational picket line in front of the Virgin in March.
"In negotiations, the company has proposed [zero dollars] in wage increases for the first three years of a 5-year contract, which is unacceptable," Pappageorge said in a statement. "Workers at Virgin Las Vegas deserve fair wage increases and they are organized and ready to strike for it."
If the strike happens, it would be the first full-scale walkout at a hotel-casino since a 10-day strike in December 2002 at the Golden Gate Hotel-Casino downtown.
A representative for Virgin said The Nevada Independent's request for comment "had been received."
The property reopened in March 2021 after a one-year, $200 million renovation that converted the hotel-casino from Hard Rock Las Vegas. JC Hospitality is the managing partner of Virgin Las Vegas' ownership consortium, which includes Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
