Culinary Union Ups Strike Pressure on Virgin Hotels with Staged Arrests

^{Las Vegas police and hospitality workers gave irritated commuters a free show on Friday in an effort to bring Virgin Hotels back to the bargaining table ready to accept Culinary Union terms. (Image: courtesy of Culinary union 226)}

Everything in Las Vegas is a show, including labor negotiations. 

Workers at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas have been on strike since last Friday, Nov. 15, when nearly 700 housekeepers, bartenders, wait staff, laundry workers, porters and other non-gaming employees walked off the job in a well-coordinated display of worker solidarity. 

Since then, they’ve engaged in daily picket lines, wearing bright red shirts with messages that seem to change by the day and carrying professionally made signage visible by passing cars. On Friday, a small group sat in the street blocking traffic, prompting Las Vegas metro police to arrest them in front of waiting TV cameras.

The workers are seeking higher wages, better health benefits and guarantees that they won’t be automated out of their jobs as technology advances.

Battle of Public Attrition

The casino-resort, owned by hedge fund operators and real estate conglomerates, says boo, we can’t afford to give raises because we’re a struggling mom-and-pop. The consortium suggests that the off-Strip property will go out of business if they have to meet wage demands that Culinary Workers Union 226 has made standard across the city.

The union’s effort started in earnest last year, when Culinary was able to leverage corporate angst around the inaugural F1 race in Las Vegas to pressure Caesars, Wynn, and MGM to come to acceptable terms for new five-year contracts before the green flag dropped.

Since then, Culinary has secured similar deals with workers at the Venetian and virtually all independent casinos in Nevada. 

But Virgin has resisted, which prompted union protestors to block traffic, and, according to script, be arrested. 

Virgin has been one of the last remaining holdouts -- along with Stations Casinos, which has been entrenched in a years-long legal battle to keep the union out of its labor pools. 

The Culinary Union staged a 48-hour strike against Virgin in May in an effort to advance negotiations, and in August 23 picketing workers were arrested. 

Despite those actions, the two sides were still at an impasse in October, as race day was around the corner. 

Tensions Behind Turn 1

In the days leading up to the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, union members were staging picket lines. It started out as just shifts for a couple hours at a time, and since has grown into a 24/7 vigil. Protestors could be heard screaming “Shame!” at temporary hires walking in to work. 

Anyone near Paradise Road and Koval Lane couldn’t miss it.

The Virgin Hotels property is located at Turn 1 on the Las Vegas Grand Prix track -- the nearest casino-hotel to the F1 pit building and Paddock Club. 

This isn’t Culinary’s first time leveraging a high-profile Vegas event to gain traction. Last year, as the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix approached, the union successfully pressured Caesars, MGM, and Wynn to finalize new contracts. 

Just like last time, the people who chose to be loaded up in a bus and booked into Clark County detention wore yellow armbands, letting police know they were OK to be arrested. 

Police let the protestors put on their show in traffic for a few minutes, before they entered the scene. You can hear in the shared video one of the officers asking the person if the cuffs were too tight. 

In total, 57 people were supposedly “arrested,” including Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer and chief negotiator Ted Pappageorge.

“I’m in solidarity with Virgin Las Vegas workers tonight and got arrested for a just cause,” Pappageorge said. “These workers have waited over 17 months without a new contract, and their patience has run out.” 

As far as we know, no one at the table has budged in the days since this latest strike began. Virgin is reportedly playing scabs $300/day to fill in for striking employees. 

With the F1 race about to be here and gone, then what will the union do?