Overnight agreements reached between Culinary Union, 5 Vegas resorts
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Hotel worker strikes along the Las Vegas Strip made national headlines in 2023, and they may again soon.
On Thursday evening the Culinary Union announced a tentative agreement on a new 5-year contract was reached with Circa Las Vegas, The D Las Vegas, and Golden Gate for over 780 hospitality workers. Additionally overnight on Friday, agreements were reached with El Cortez Las Vegas and Sahara Las Vegas.
It’s down to the final eight hotels that have yet to reach contract agreements with the union that represents a majority of their workers: Culinary Workers Union Local 226. Most of these properties are located in Downtown Las Vegas.
Two of the remaining eight are on a tighter deadline. The Rio and Virgin Hotels were given a Monday, Feb. 5 deadline to reach a new five-year contract agreement, as a majority of other hotel properties already have, before about 1,900 workers say they’ll strike.
According to Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge, the primary contract disputes are about wage increases, benefit protections, and specific limitations in employers replacing their workers with robots or other technology.
“We’re having a much more difficult time with those companies to try to get to the finish line,” Pappageorge said during a virtual interview Thursday afternoon. “These companies have had that deal for months. They’ve had opportunities, so there’s no reason to extend the deadline.”
The Rio and Virgin Hotels did not return 8 News Now’s request for comment Thursday. Sahara said in a statement:
“SAHARA Las Vegas values our relationship with our Team Members and is working diligently to complete the contract with their Union. The Union is in session with their members now, and we expect to be in the room with them shortly.”
A deal with SAHARA was met overnight on Friday.
Members, on average, make $28 an hour including benefits under their previous contract. New contracts could increase the average to $37 an hour including benefits.
“Workers are not going to back down here in Las Vegas, customers need to know that these companies are not stepping up to the plate,” Pappageorge expressed.
The prospect sounds sweet for high school sweethearts Marci Soulia and her husband. The cocktail server met him when they both began working at the Hard Rock Hotel – now Virgin Hotels Las Vegas – 29 years ago.
But, what’s not so sweet: her competition. Those are robots that can do the same job without a paycheck.
“We see where everything’s going now. I mean, everything is on a pad or everything’s, you know, it’s all digital,” Soulia said during a virtual interview Thursday morning. “Everything’s gone up, and it might just be a little bit here and a little bit there, but at the end of the month, it all adds up.”
What’s adding up now: months of prolonged negotiations coming to a head, potentially, Friday morning. Soulia said she was planning to walk out.
“We’re hopeful, but it’s also like a nerve-wracking, emotional time as well,” Soulia said. “There’s just so many important issues on the table.”
“The trucks start rolling at 4 a.m., to start bringing, you know, strike materials. Bullhorns, the signing equipment, the picket signs,” Pappageorge said. “Five o’clock, the workers that are working at that time come out, and the workers that, as they come to work, they join the picket line.”
The following hotels have strike deadlines of 5 a.m. Monday, the same day Super Bowl week activities begin:
Binion’s
Downtown Grand
El Cortez
Four Queens
Fremont
Golden Nugget
Main Street
“We’re fighting for wages, we’re fighting for benefits, workload reduction,” El Cortez employee Linda Hunt said. “It’s time to step up to the plate and give us our worth.”
Hundreds of thousands of tourists are expected next week for events celebrating Super Bowl LVIII, the first time the game has come to Las Vegas.
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