FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Saturday, November 1st, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Culinary Union celebrates 90 years of winning for workers in Nevada
Las Vegas, NV – The Culinary Union was chartered on November 1, 1935. 2025 marks the 90th anniversary of an organization that has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Nevada hospitality workers and their families with strong union wages and benefits. In nine decades, the Culinary Union is an essential economic institution and the strongest political force in the Battle Born State. The Culinary Union has won a middle-class standard of living for over 800,000 hospitality workers in nearly a century through militant rank-and-file organizing and mass actions and worker membership has risen from 18,000 in 1987 to 60,000 members today.
“For nearly a century, the Culinary Union has fought and won for working families in Nevada. Since November 1, 1935, generations of cooks, guest room attendants, servers, and kitchen workers have built a movement that transformed this state. From the 1949 Reno–Sparks strike, to the 1984 Citywide walkout that shut down the Las Vegas Strip, to the 6 year, 4 month, and 10 day Frontier Strike that became the longest and most successful in U.S. history, working people have shown time and time again that when we stand together, we win,”said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “Culinary Union members organized to build what working families needed most - security. In nine decades, we are proud to have created the Culinary Health Fund, the Pension Fund, the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, the Citizenship Project, the Housing Fund, the Legal Service Fund, and now, our network of 4 Culinary Health Centers deliver world-class care to over 120,000 Culinary Union members and their families. We’ve fought for laws that keep workers safe, won billions in raises and benefits, and elected Shop Stewards to office - all while never forgetting where our power comes from: Rank-and-file workers who have organized to win a better future. This year, as we celebrate the Culinary Union’s 90th anniversary, we honor every member who marched, struck, sacrificed, and organized to build this union. Because of their courage and solidarity, the Las Vegas Strip is now 100% union. That victory was decades in the making, but our fight isn’t over. Station Casinos workers and 10,000 non-union restaurant workers on the Strip are organizing to win the Las Vegas Dream and we have their backs. For nearly a century, the Culinary Union has been the beating heart of working-class power in this state and we will continue to organize, strike, and vote to protect what our parents and grandparents built.”
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/Black/AAPI/immigrant organization with members who are originally from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 45% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latinx, 18% white, 15% Asian, 12% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples. Culinary Union members work as: Guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bakers, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers.
Highlights from the Culinary Union’s legacy:
1935: The Culinary Union was chartered on November 1, 1935.
1949: July 2-8, 1949, the Culinary Union led a historic 7-day strike in the Reno-Sparks area, demanding that all hotel service workers be included in union contracts and fighting for higher wages. The strike began July 2 at 12pm and disrupted businesses during a major holiday weekend as 42 bars closed, workers walked out at 55 restaurants, and picket lines went up in front of several properties. The strike drew support of other unions who refused to cross the picket lines and the ire of anti-union forces, including prominent political figures and business interests who eventually passed a “Right-to-Work [for Less]” law in Nevada in response to this specific labor demonstration of worker power.
1953: The so-called “Right-to-Work [for Less]” policy was passed in 1950 (50.7%), ratified by voters in 1952, and became law effective on January 1, 1953 primarily in response to the Culinary Union’s record of strong organizing and successful wins for working people in Nevada.
1958: In response to the Culinary Union's growing organizing power and several labor-led efforts to repeal the harmful anti-worker "Right to Work [for Less]" law, business interests launched an initiative in 1958 to raise the signature requirements and made it more difficult for Nevadans to put initiatives on the ballot and ultimately pass them. The business-backed measure raised the signature requirements by mandating that petitions meet quotas in three-quarters of the State’s 17 counties and added a unique requirement that initiatives to amend the state constitution must be approved by voters twice, in consecutive elections, before taking effect - something found only in Nevada. This tactic has continued to impact the state’s ballot initiative process.
2025:
*Winning a new contract at Virgin Las Vegas after the longest strike in more than two decades. For the first time in more than 20 years, the Culinary Union led its longest strike, taking workers at Virgin Las Vegas out in an open-ended strike that began November 15, 2024 at 5:00am as workers fought for a new 5-year union contract for 700 hospitality workers. During the strike, hundreds of workers and union members maintained 24/7 picket lines at every entrance and exit along Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road around the casino property until the strike ended January 22, 2025.
*For the first time in Culinary Union’s 90-year history, every casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip is unionized. The Culinary Union celebrates this historic milestone, recognizing generations of hospitality workers who organized and sacrificed to win a better future for working families.
*On April 2, 2025, the Culinary and Bartenders Unions, together with the Culinary Health Fund, hosted the grand opening of the third state-of-the-art Culinary Health Center. Located in North Las Vegas, the Culinary Health Center - Craig provides expanded access to high-quality primary and preventive care for tens of thousands of union members and their families. The fourth Culinary Health Center - Tropicana opens in 2026!
*Culinary Union relocated its headquarters from Downtown Las Vegas to a new campus on Spring Mountain Road. The new Culinary Union campus is a wise investment that makes our union stronger, ready to take on big corporations, and win strikes. It is a source of power and financial security for our union family - for now and the next 90 years. We’re going to keep fighting for workers in this city, from the casinos in Downtown Las Vegas to the non-union restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip. We celebrate the memories and power we’ve built, and we’re ready to create even more. Here’s to the next generation of organizing, fighting, and winning.
See more highlights from Culinary Union's history here.
—
ABOUT CULINARY UNION:
Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of the casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. UNITE HERE represents 300,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America.
The Culinary Union, through the Culinary Health Fund, is one of the largest healthcare consumers in the state. The Culinary Health Fund is sponsored by the Culinary Union and Las Vegas-area employers. It provides health insurance coverage for over 120,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members, and their dependents.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latino/a, Black, AAPI, immigrant organization with members who come from 178 countries and speak over 40 different languages. We are proud to have helped over 18,000 immigrants become American citizens and new voters since 2001 through our affiliate, The Citizenship Project.
The Culinary Union has a diverse membership which is 55% women and 60% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latino/a, 18% white, 15% Asian, 12% Black, and less than 1% Indigenous Peoples.
Culinary Union members work as: Guest room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry, and kitchen workers. The Culinary Union has been fighting and winning for working families in Nevada for 90 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
###