Striking Culinary Union Members Arrested at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas

Posted on: November 22, 2024, 06:41h. 

Last updated on: November 22, 2024, 09:44h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Fifty-seven Culinary Union members and officials were arrested Thursday night during the continuing strike at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Culinary Union picketers
Culinary Union picketers, pictured above, blocked the street near the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas during a strike. In the middle is union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge. (Image: Culinary Union)

The arrests occurred at about 6 p.m. as reporters and photographers interviewed and photographed the picketers who were blocking a street.

Union Members Handcuffed

Many who sat down in the middle of Paradise Road outside of the hotel were handcuffed before being led away by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers. One of those arrested was well-known union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge.

The arrests were a peaceful act that had been planned many hours ahead of time. Media had been alerted the picketers were going to engage in civil disobedience.

Strike Entering Second Week

The union’s round-the-clock picket line began at the hotel last Friday after union leadership rejected the latest offer from hotel representatives.

There is no end in sight to the strike with no word of the two sides meeting again any time soon.

The union is seeking higher wages, as well as other improvements for some 700 hospitality workers who are employed at the hotel. They want a five-year contract with salary levels and conditions similar to what other Las Vegas or Las Vegas Strip properties agreed to over the past year in negotiations with the Culinary Union.

Hospitality employees have been working without a contract at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas since June 1, 2023. They include guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, and kitchen workers.

The Culinary Union asks the public not to cross the picket line and has called the replacements that are being hired by the hotel, “scab” workers.

Prior Arrests

Thursday’s arrests aren’t the first act of civil disobedience at the hotel.

In August, 23 workers and Culinary Union leaders were arrested as they picketed at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

That peaceful picketing began on Harmon Avenue before demonstrators sat down in the hotel’s porte-cochere, which is an entrance used by vehicles.

Hotel Response

Since last Friday’s walkout by hospitality workers, the hotel issued a statement saying it is “grateful” to the hundreds of applicants who applied after other employees went on strike. The hotel statement said these temporary workers are qualified and experienced.

The hotel also claimed in the statement that the union wasn’t engaging in “meaningful bargaining.”

The strike is being held during the popular Formula 1 Las Vegas auto race taking place this weekend.