Culinary Union goes on strike at Virgin Hotels ahead of Las Vegas Grand Prix

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) — The Culinary Union has announced plans for a strike at Virgin hotels starting next Friday, a week before the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

In a press release on Friday, union leaders said the strike will begin on Friday, November 15 at 5 a.m. and will involve 700 hospitality workers. The strike is the union’s latest attempt to secure a new five-year union contract.

This will be the union’s first open-ended strike in 22 years.

Negotiations between the union and the hotel have continued throughout the year, but union leaders say there was no response to the latest request for talks at the main table.

“Virgin Las Vegas’ contract expired on June 1, 2023, and workers are fighting for a new contract that will provide a better future for their families,” said Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union. “That’s why the Culinary Union has called for a strike… and is calling on Las Vegas locals and customers not to cross the strike line in solidarity with the workers.”

Virgin Hotels responded to FOX5’s request for comment on the pending strike Friday afternoon.

“We have been notified that Culinary Union Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 (union) have set a strike deadline for Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

While we value the negotiating process, the Union has yet to cooperate with our attempts to reach a good faith agreement. The Union did not allow our team members to vote on the proposal made in June, and we have been awaiting the Union’s response to a number of proposals since July 11th. Although he committed to providing these answers at the negotiating table as quickly as possible, he did not approach us until November 8 about returning to the negotiating table or any other potentially constructive steps toward a settlement.

Throughout the negotiations, the Union negotiated on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, refusing to back down from a position that it knows is not economically viable for our off-Strip properties and that will negatively impact all members of the hotel team. Our commitment to the well-being of our team members and achieving sustainable performance across our site remains unchanged.

Since January, the union has been relentlessly trying to undermine our business by contacting our team members and bombarding our customers with misleading information.

The two-day Union strike in May had no impact on operations or guest service and we are confident that any future strike will not impact our operations.

We are fully committed to finding a fair solution and hope that the Union will come to the negotiating table on November 14 to begin negotiations in good faith.”