LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After months of negotiating for new contracts, more than 700 workers at the Virgin Hotels are officially on strike.
Workers at the property are the last in the Culinary Union to reach a deal.
They walked off the job at 5 a.m. Friday morning and will be on strike until 5 a.m. Sunday morning.
Workers tell Channel 13 the lack of a new contract has been frustrating and disheartening.
"We are striking to get what everybody else already has downtown and on the Strip," said Virgin Hotels lead cook Lee McNamara. "Smaller casinos with less money, with smaller names, have contracts and we don't. This is Virgin. Come on now."
McNamara was one of hundreds of workers seen holding up signs and demonstrating Friday morning. He said it's been hard to pay the bills with high inflation.
"The cost of everything, car insurance, car payments, food, gas and rent is at an all-time high," McNamara said.
The Culinary Union has secured historic contracts for other valley resorts. Most notably, workers at MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts got new contracts last November.
Workers at Virgin said the clock is ticking for their contracts.
"It's unbelievable. Everybody else signed in less than 24 hours," said utility porter Pedro Rivera. "I got a family. I got kids."
Meanwhile, Virgin Hotels has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Culinary Union with the National Labor Relations Board.
In the signed charging document, the property claims the union "has failed to bargain in good faith" and it has "engaged in unlawful 'take it or leave it' bargaining."
However, workers at Virgin Hotels said the property has failed to bring anything to the table.
"If you bring zero to the table, what do we have to negotiate," McNamara said.
The Culinary Union said this is the first strike in more than 22 years.
Negotiations at Virgin Hotels will continue Tuesday.
