Las Vegas: Venetian, Palazzo workers overwhelmingly ratify first union contract

Workers at The Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas have overwhelmingly ratified their first union contract. Culinary Local 226 said in a Tuesday news release that 99 percent of workers voted in favor of the agreement. 

The two hotel-casinos join almost all other Strip resorts in becoming unionized. Culinary officials said more than 4,000 workers are covered by the agreement, which was reached earlier this month.

The tentative contract agreement was a significant moment for The Venetian, which was a decades-long holdout as the Strip’s only non-union property when it was controlled by Las Vegas Sands and its Founder, Chairman, and CEO Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021.

Earlier in June, the union and Venetian leadership established "card check neutrality," which ensured that the resort remained neutral as employees considered the possibility of unionization. 

Fontainebleau is now the last major Strip resort without a contract, but the sides agreed to card-check neutrality before its December opening, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

BREAKING: Culinary Union is pleased to announce Venetian/Palazzo workers have successfully voted by 99% to ratify their new union contract tonight!

Culinary Union celebrates Las Vegas Strip being 100% UNION & congratulates 4,000+ workers who now have a strong union contract! pic.twitter.com/YvtRnJyOIw

— Culinary Union (@Culinary226) August 28, 2024

Separately, on Thursday, the Culinary Union demonstrated at the Virgin Las Vegas, pushing for a new union contract at the property. According to a news release shared by the union, 23 workers were arrested at the property.

“Ahead of Labor Day weekend, approximately 23 Culinary Union members were arrested at the Virgin Las Vegas this evening in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience as 700 hospitality workers continue pushing for a new 5-year union contract at the property. Virgin Las Vegas is in an active labor dispute with the Culinary and Bartenders Unions as the contract expired June 1, 2023,” the Union stated.

The labor demonstration began with picketing on Harmon Avenue in front of Virgin Las Vegas and then Culinary Union members, led by Ted Pappageorge (Secretary-Treasurer) and Diana Valles (President), sat down in the middle of the Virgin Las Vegas porte-cochère and participated in the civil disobedience.

15 months without a contract and @VirginHotelsLV still won’t budge. But workers aren’t giving up—we’re here, we’re united, and we’re demanding justice! ⚖️ #OneJobShouldBeEnough pic.twitter.com/2I0A7qiZ3U

— Culinary Union (@Culinary226) August 30, 2024

“We took negotiations to the streets this evening to send a clear message to Virgin Las Vegas that it’s time to do right by their workers,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union.

According to Pappageorge, the last Main Table negotiations with the company took place in early July, but "unfortunately, the company continues to stand by its proposal of $0 in raises for the first 3 years (of a 5-year contract)."