LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — In 1999, more than a thousand Culinary Union Local 226 members crowded the sidewalk in front of the under-construction Venetian hotel-casino protesting the lack of a union contract.
The Venetian's owner — Sheldon Adelson — was virulently anti-union, and was determined to keep his property free of organized labor contracts.
But now, 25 years later, Adelson's company — Las Vegas Sands — has sold the Venetian and its sister property Palazzo to Apollo Global Management. Adelson passed away in 2021 and the property's new owners decided to let workers decide whether they wanted to unionize.
The result: A union contract approved by 99 percent of Venetian workers.
And it wasn't just the history — the 25-year fight to unionize the Venetian was the Culinary's longest campaign to date. It's also the fact that the Venetian was the last non-union property on the Las Vegas Strip; now every hotel-casino on Las Vegas Boulevard between Russell Road and Sahara Avenue has a Culinary contract.
Culinary Union secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge said at an event Thursday to mark the signing of the contract that he had faith that the Venetian would one day be a union property.
"I can tell you that I knew one day we would be doing that, but honestly, we didn't know when," he said. "We have a fighting spirit at the Culinary and Bartenders union here in Las Vegas, and we look at time maybe a little differently than some organizations do."
The change in the Venetian's anti-union stance came only after Apollo took over, Pappageorge said, resulting in months of tough negotiations. Venetian CEO Patrick Nichols spoke at the event, held inside the Palazzo, and said that businesses evolve.
"When you work together as we have done, everybody wins, especially our team members," Nichols said.
That was the message echoed by Julie Su, the acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, who came to Las Vegas to speak at the ceremony. She said a lot of hard work went into the Venetian's first contract.
"Getting here was not easy," Su said. "You all made it happen."
After the event, Su told Channel 13 that the contract represents greater control for employees over their work lives.
"It says that unions make America strong," she said.
"You hear President [Joe] Biden say it all the time, the middle class built America and unions built the middle class. And now the workers here in the Venetian are going to be able to enjoy the benefits of having a real voice on the job, of being able to negotiate for their wages and health benefits, for how technology will be implemented in the workplace, to just really feel valued."
For 14-year Venetian employee Carmen Vargas, who served on the negotiating committee that hammered out the new contract, it's not just better wages and good healthcare, but also the ability to buy a home.
"We are very, very happy that the union, 226, they support us, and now, with all those benefits we have, we're going to be very happy because we can support our families," Vargas said.
Getting the details of the contract worked out took months, and culminated in a final 22-hour negotiating session that left workers exhausted but elated, Vargas said.
"We was exhausted, but we was happy," said Vargas. "When Ted mentioned we have a tentative agreement, we was jumping of joy."
With the Venetian contract signed, the union turns its attention back to the Virgin Hotel, which saw its Culinary contract expire 15 months ago and has already seen strikes, as well as neighborhood casino giant Station Casinos, which has also resisted union contracts.
After its 25-year campaign to organize the Venetian, a more than six-year strike at the since-imploded Frontier Hotel and a history of organizing casinos owned by giant corporations, Pappageorge said the union has more than demonstrated its resolve.
"Look, when there's something that's the right thing to do, the Culinary Union, we're going to stick with workers until the very end," he said. "And we don't care how long it takes, and how hard it is, and how much work there is involved, we'll outlast folks and we'll do whatever it takes to make sure workers have their voice."
