Hospitality workers to strike at off-Strip casino after negotiations fail

Hundreds of hospitality workers at an off-Strip casino will walk off the job for the second time this year after employer Virgin Hotels and Culinary Local 226 leadership failed to agree on a new multi-year contract Thursday night.

Last week, Culinary set a 5 a.m. Friday strike deadline to press Virgin management to get a deal done one week before the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Virgin said it tried to address Culinary’s concerns about a lack of wage increases in the first three years of the contract.

“Today, in an attempt to address the Union’s concerns, we proposed bringing forward a portion of the wage increase that was previously proposed for years four and five so that there are no longer zero increases in the first three years,” according to a statement from hotel management. “Again, the Union chose to engage in ‘take it or leave it’ bargaining, refusing to move off of a position that it knows is not economically viable for our off-Strip property and that would negatively impact all hotel team members.”

In an X post, Culinary leaders called the offer “miles apart.”

“Company’s offer was an insult to workers who voted unanimously to refuse to settle for a second-class contract,” it said.

About 700 non-gaming union members at the property, located east of the Strip on Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road, said they will strike until the negotiations are resolved and asked customers and community allies not to cross the picket line. The walk out comes after months of on-and-off negotiations and one other work stoppage.

The strike threatens staffing levels days before the citywide Formula One event. Race events begin Thursday, Nov. 21.

Culinary members at Virgin are the last in the labor organization to reach a deal with their employer in the Las Vegas area. Multi-year contracts were negotiated at other Strip, off-Strip and downtown properties in fall 2023 and this winter, but union officials agreed to extend discussions at Virgin because of the property’s finances. New management took over the property, formerly the Hard Rock Hotel, and rebranded it to Virgin Hotels in March 2021.

Culinary used the pending inaugural Formula One race as a means of leverage to achieve a “historic” contract in 2023. The union set a strike deadline at three of the largest Strip operators — MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts — ahead of the race week, forcing negotiations that had lasted for about seven months. The contract ultimately included a 32 percent wage and benefits increase over the life of the contract, among other labor gains in workload and benefits.

Virgin has accused Culinary of “unlawful ‘take it or leave it’ bargaining” in complaints sent to the National Labor Relations Board. But union leaders said the hotel-casino earlier proposals of no wage increases for the first three years of the contract was a non-starter in their eyes.

Virgin hosted a two-day strike at the property on May 10-11.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.