Picketing continued Sunday outside a hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Strip that remained open without striking talks between management and union members over a new contract.
The workers are seeking a pay rise and benefits comparable to agreements reached last year at other resorts.
The walkout by about 700 Culinary Workers Union workers at the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas comes a week before the second annual Las Vegas Grand Prix draws millions of fans to the strip and nearby streets for Formula 1 racing. It is the first open strike since 2002 for Nevada’s largest labor union, which has about 60,000 members.
Union spokeswoman Bethany Khan and media representative for Virgin Hotels, owner of the 1,500-room property, Terry Maruka, said no new talks were scheduled.
Maruka said the company has submitted more than 600 applications for potential contract and temporary workers since Friday. The union pays striking workers $500 per week for picketing shifts of at least five days.
Guestroom attendants, cocktail and food servers, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers are among the workers represented by the Culinary Union at the property, where the union also staged a 48-hour job action last May to protest Virgin Hotels. A new agreement may be sought to be agreed upon. Five-year contract with extended benefits and wage increases.
The company last week signed a contract with 105 members of the Teamsters union, including front desk, valet and call center workers, Marocca said.
Other casinos on and off the Strip signed deals with the union just before the Formula 1 race a year ago, with tens of thousands of workers at properties including the Bellagio, the Paris Las Vegas, about 32% over five years. There were salary increase agreements. MGM Grand and Caesars Palace.
In a statement on Sunday, Virgin Hotels called the contracts “economically unsustainable” and said it wanted a “reasonable contract” for its 1,710 employees. He has accused union leaders of refusing to engage in “meaningful negotiations”.
Culinary union members last went on strike for 10 days in 2002 at the Golden Gate Hotel Casino in downtown Las Vegas.
