LAS VEGAS (AP) – The longest strike by Las Vegas hotel workers in decades ended Wednesday with a tentative deal between the union and casinos that will see hundreds of workers laid off in November.
The Culinary Workers Union announced on social media platform In a joint statement, the union and casino said they are committed to “fostering positive and cooperative labor relations for the benefit of all team members at the property” after the 69-day strike.
The deal, which still needs approval from member states, marks the end of long and highly contentious contract negotiations that have stalled in the public eye due to disagreements over salaries. The union’s previous contract with Virgin Hotels expired in June 2023.
The new contract will likely include significant pay raises similar to those the remaining union members in the Strip, downtown and other non-Strip establishments received last year. This includes what the union described as a historic 32% pay rise over five years, which Virgin Hotels said was not “economically viable” for the casino’s future. was.
But throughout the strike, the union’s secretary, treasurer and lead negotiator, Ted Pappageorge, repeatedly said Virgin Hotels workers would not settle for a “second-class contract”.
Leigh McNamara, a cook who has worked there for more than 25 years, told Clark County commissioners in early December that she deserved to be paid a living wage like other casinos.
“We’re doing the same amount of work for less money,” he says. “We are literally the union casino with the lowest wages right now.”
For months, unions maintained a 24-hour picket line outside a hotel and casino within walking distance of the Strip, along a common route between a major tourist corridor and the city’s international airport.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus and U.S. Rep. Stephen Horsford also joined the picket line workers.
The last time the union went on strike was in 2002, when workers at the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas stopped working for 10 days.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest union, with approximately 60,000 members across the state. Most of them are in Las Vegas.
First Published: January 22, 2025 at 6:14pm EST
