FILE - A members of the Culinary Workers Union holds a picket sign outside the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Nov. 15, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
FILE - A members of the Culinary Workers Union holds a picket sign outside the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Nov. 15, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The longest strike in decades by Las Vegas hotel workers ended Wednesday with a ratified contract between the union and a casino where hundreds of employees had walked off the job in November.
The Culinary Workers Union announced on the social media platform X that it secured a five-year deal for about 700 employees at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas near the Strip. In a joint statement, the union and casino said they were committed “to fostering a positive and collaborative working relationship for the benefit of all team members at the property" after the 69-day strike that began Nov. 15.
Bethany Khan, a spokesperson for the union, said the deal came together in recent days and was approved unanimously Wednesday by the union's rank-and-file. That brings an end to the that had stalled in the public spotlight because of . The union’s previous contract with Virgin Hotels expired in June 2023.
The new contract likely contains significant pay raises similar to what the on the Strip, downtown and at other off-Strip properties have . That includes what the union has described as a historic 32% increase in wages over five years, an amount Virgin Hotels had said isn't “economically viable†for the casino's future.
But throughout the strike, Ted Pappageorge, the union's secretary-treasurer and lead negotiator, repeatedly said workers at Virgin Hotels would not settle for a “second-class contract.â€
Lee McNamara, a cook who has worked there for more than 25 years, told Clark County commissioners in early December that they deserved to be paid a living wage like their counterparts at other casinos.
“We're doing the same amount of work for less pay,†he said. “We are literally the lowest-paid union casino as it stands right now.â€
For months the union maintained outside the hotel-casino that's within walking distance of the Strip and along a common route between the main tourist corridor and the city's international airport. Throughout the strike, the union publicly criticized Virgin Hotels for hiring temporary workers who crossed the picket line.
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Reps. Dina Titus and Steven Horsford also joined workers on the picket line.
The union last went on strike in 2002, when employees at the Golden Gate hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas stopped working for 10 days.
The Culinary Union is the largest labor union in Nevada with about 60,000 members statewide. Most of them are in Las Vegas.
