Quick summary:
• Virgin Hotels Las Vegas workers are striking after being offered a $0 raise for three years of a five-year contract.
• Workers demand better wages, healthcare, and safer conditions, matching standards already achieved at other Las Vegas hotels.
• The hotel is partly owned by the Laborers Union Pension Fund, which has hired strikebreakers instead of supporting workers.
• Unsafe working conditions and erratic schedules have left employees overworked and struggling to make ends meet.
• Unionization has improved some conditions, but workers say the hotel’s offer fails to address key issues.
• The strike coincides with high-profile events, increasing pressure on the hotel to resolve the dispute.
• Strikers remain committed to securing fair treatment and better conditions for all workers.
The Culinary Union’s first open-ended strike in 22 years is drawing national attention as over 700 workers from Virgin Hotels Las Vegas demand fair wages, healthcare improvements, and safer working conditions. The controversy deepens with revelations that the hotel, partially owned by the Laborers Union Pension Fund of Eastern and Central Canada, has hired strikebreakers while ignoring calls for negotiations.
This labor dispute highlights not only the harsh realities faced by hospitality workers but also a troubling contradiction: a union-managed investment fund standing on the opposite side of a workers’ strike.
For Isabel Gonzalez, a guest room attendant with 17 years of experience, the stakes are deeply personal. Cleaning 15 hotel rooms daily, she faces tight schedules and grueling tasks like vacuuming pet fur, scrubbing suede chairs, and removing large amounts of trash—all in under 45 minutes per room.
Despite these demands, Virgin Hotels offered no raises for the first three years of a proposed five-year contract. Even after last-minute revisions, the deal averages out to a mere 30 cents annual raise once rising benefit costs are factored in. “We’re not going to accept that. It’s a joke,” Gonzalez said.
The union, representing workers across the Las Vegas Strip and downtown, recently secured a 10 percent wage increase in the first year and a 32 percent raise over five years for 50,000 workers in other properties. Virgin remains the only holdout, arguing that its off-Strip location renders these terms unaffordable. However, other off-Strip hotels have reached similar agreements.
“There’s a big difference in what we make at the Strip and what we make over here, when we’re doing the same job,” said Andro Rodriguez, a cook at Virgin Hotels and another property. “I think we deserve a lot more than that.”
Unlike typical labor disputes between workers and billion-dollar corporations, this strike is complicated by the involvement of the Laborers Union Pension Fund, a minority owner of Virgin Hotels. The fund, which manages $8 billion in assets, invests aggressively in real estate to achieve high returns—sometimes exceeding 20 percent, according to Laborers International Vice President Joseph Mancinelli.
Workers, initially unaware of the pension fund’s involvement, traveled to its Toronto office to plead for solidarity. Pamela Holmes, a lead usher at Virgin Hotels, described being stopped by security and denied access. “We went there hoping they weren’t doing it on purpose,” Holmes said. “But it just seems like they knew and they didn’t want to talk to us.”
The fund did not respond to requests for comment, deepening frustrations among striking workers who expected a labor organization to stand with them, not against them.
Beyond wages, workers highlight unsafe working conditions and erratic scheduling. Holmes noted that ushers often handle unruly guests and medical emergencies with limited resources, such as insufficient radios to call for help. “If we had more radios, [medics] would get to the calls faster,” she said.
Inconsistent hours add to the strain, with some months offering as few as five shifts. Many workers juggle multiple jobs to make ends meet. “It puts a toll on you,” Holmes said. “A lot of employees… have two or three jobs and they’re running from one job, literally they have five or 10 minutes to get to the next job.”
Gonzalez, who worked at Virgin when it was a non-union hotel, emphasized the stark improvements since union representation was established. Previously, arbitrary management demands forced her to clean up to 18 rooms a day. “With my contract, it means I don’t have to do more than 15,” she said. “If they want to force or intimidate me, I can say, ‘My contract says this, this, and this.’”
Union protections have also allowed her to include her children on her healthcare plan, a benefit unattainable with non-union wages. Yet workers like Gonzalez are still fighting for the hotel’s restaurant staff to join the union under card-check recognition. “They are also workers, and they work hard,” she said. “They deserve a contract.”
The timing of the strike is pivotal. The Las Vegas Grand Prix, an event expected to attract 300,000 spectators, coincides with the walkout. Virgin Hotels also has high-profile performances scheduled, including Manchester Orchestra and King Diamond. Despite these pressures, the hotel has hired scabs instead of returning to the bargaining table.
For the union, this fight is about more than one property. A successful strikebreaking effort at Virgin could embolden other Las Vegas hotels to push back against labor gains. “There is just too much money and too many cutthroat capitalists in Las Vegas who would love to drive down labor costs,” wrote journalist Hamilton Nolan.
The strike at Virgin Hotels underscores the broader struggle for labor rights in a city where union density has historically set industry standards. Gonzalez believes this fight is about ensuring future generations of workers can thrive, not just survive. “We’re doing this not just for us but for our families,” she said. “It’s about respect.”
As the strike continues, workers remain resolute in their demands, despite challenges from an employer partially backed by a union pension fund. “They deserve better than this,” Gonzalez said, echoing the sentiments of her colleagues and supporters. “And we’re not giving up.”
Culinary Union is urging tourists, venue performers, elected officials, and community allies to *not* cross the strike line at the Virgin Las Vegas and encourages customers to cancel their reservation, check out of the property, choose a union accommodation (FairHotel.org), and eat at union restaurants (UnionEats.org).
COMMENTS