LAS VEGAS– Nevada’s largest labor union concluded a 48-hour strike on Sunday aimed at pressuring Virgin Hotels Las Vegas to agree to a five-year contract on wages and benefits.
More than 700 employees of Culinary Union Local 226 walked off their jobs at the 1,500-room hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Strip on Friday morning and ended the strike on Sunday morning. Contract talks will resume on Tuesday.
Guestroom attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, doormen, cooks, bartenders and laundry and kitchen staff were among those walking the picket line in front of Virgin Hotels, formerly the Hard Rock Las Vegas.
Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the union, said workers hoped the 48-hour strike would help speed up a new agreement. The union’s contract with Virgin Hotels expired 11 months ago.
Earlier this year, union members at other Las Vegas-area properties reached agreements that would give them about a 32% salary increase over five years, including 10% in the first year.
The last time Culinary Union members went on strike was in 2002 at the Golden Gate hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas.
Virgin Hotels filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board last week ahead of the expected strike, accusing the union of failing to bargain in good faith. Pappageorge disputed the claim.
Last year, the union authorized a citywide strike ahead of Las Vegas hosting the Super Bowl. But it eventually reached an agreement with the major hotel-casinos on the Strip for about 40,000 employees and with most downtown and off-Strip properties for 10,000 employees.