Nearly two dozen members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 were detained for performing acts of nonviolent civil disobedience outside Virgin Hotels Las Vegas just ahead of the busy Labor Day Weekend.
The 23 union members — including Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge and President Diana Valles — were briefly detained by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department last Thursday after sitting in the middle of the off-Strip resort’s porte cochère and blocking traffic.
Virgin is the only resort that has not settled on a new five-year collective bargaining agreement stemming from last year’s citywide contract negotiations. In May, the union and its affiliated Bartenders Union Local 165 led Virgin employees on a 48-hour strike in front of the resort to call attention to the stalled contract negotiations with JC Hospitality, the owner-operators of the property.