Strike planned as F1 looms

Virgin Hotels Las Vegas has hit back at the Culinary Union over a planned strike at the property with the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix just a week away.

parties meet Thursday for last-ditch negotiations

The trade union has set Friday 15 November as the date for the strike. While the two parties will meet Thursday for last-ditch negotiations, Virgin has accused Culinary of running roughshod over its attempts at fair resolution.  

Culinary took to X late last week to announce the Virgin strike, stating it would be the union’s first “in over 22 years”:

Culinary has called for the strike over Virgin’s “$0 in wage increases for the first three years of a 5-year contract,” which is has branded unacceptable. 

While the union has successfully used the Vegas Grand Prix as leverage against casino operators before, in a Tuesday statement Virgin accused Culinary of inflexibility and knowingly putting staff at the off-Strip casino resort at risk over its demands.  

Virgin’s beef with Culinary

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Virgin criticized the union’s refusal “to move off a position that it knows is not economically viable” for the off-Strip resort and would “negatively impact all hotel team members.”

Virgin on Tuesday stated it was “fully committed to finding a fair resolution” with Culinary that would avoid Friday’s planned strike. The resort’s management, whose main co-owners include the LiUNA Pension Fund of Eastern and Central Canada also, however, accused union negotiators of “take it or leave it bargaining.”

Virgin leveled an additional claim that Culinary didn’t respond to it until November 8

Virgin also stated Culinary did not respond to the resort’s management’s request to put its counter proposals to a vote. Virgin leveled an additional claim that Culinary didn’t respond to it until November 8 “regarding a return to the table or any other potentially constructive steps toward resolution.”

Virgin is no stranger to fighting back against Culinary. As recently as May, Virgin’s union members walked out for a two-day strike. At the time, the resort’s management accused Culinary of not negotiating “in good faith” and misinforming the press and Virgin employees.

When the two parties meet on Thursday, Virgin seems intent to negotiate from a position of strength, saying the May strike didn’t affect the resort.  

Virgin bullishly stated it was “confident that our operations will be unaffected by any future strike.”

Union pushes back

Culinary’s Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in a statement announcing the Friday strike that Virgin staff “deserve fair wage increases and they are organized and ready to strike for it.”

According to a Culinary news release, it has been warning of the strike risk and contract dispute at Virgin “for months.” The union said it had alerted “locals, customers, investors, company board members and partners, gaming regulators, and community allies” about a potential strike at the resort.   

If negotiations fail, around 700 Virgin staff are expected to walk off the job at 5:00 am on Friday. The Grand Prix weekend, which has even spawned a free anti-F1 party as a Vegas strip club, is scheduled for Nov. 21-23.