FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, March 10, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
BREAKING: Culinary Union is pleased to announce that several hours before the strike deadline, a tentative agreement for a new 4-year contract with Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate at the Las Vegas Convention Center covering 400 workers has been reached. https://t.co/FUIwBOBOBX pic.twitter.com/5MYtmqCXOd
— Culinary Union (@Culinary226) March 11, 2023
Culinary Union reaches a tentative agreement with Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate
Las Vegas, NV - Culinary and Bartenders Unions are pleased to announce that several hours before the strike deadline, a tentative agreement for a new 4-year contract with Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate at the Las Vegas Convention Center covering 400 workers has been reached. Culinary and Bartenders Union bargaining unit members who work for Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate at the Las Vegas Convention Center will be voting over the next week to ratify the contract which provides historic wage increases, mandates that temporary workers to be paid union wages and benefits, technology language that protects workers and their jobs, and continues to provide workers with the best union health care benefits, pension, and job security in Nevada.
The Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate contract expired September 1, 2022 and previously, banquet servers, bartenders, concession cashiers, cooks, dishwashers, and other Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate workers who perform work at the Las Vegas Convention voted December 7 and 8, 2022 by 100% to authorize a strike. While negotiations continued, workers signed up for strike shifts/benefits and made strike signs earlier this week, and set a strike deadline for Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 6am.
“The Culinary Union has fought hard to protect workers over the last 88 years and we are proud that this new agreement is the best contract with the highest wage increases that Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate workers have ever had while continuing to protect health care and pension benefits for 400 hospitality workers who work so hard everyday to keep the Las Vegas Convention Center running,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “This new contract mirrors the Culinary Union technology standard language in contracts on the Strip and Downtown by setting clear goals regarding worker retention, job training, advance notice of technology implementation, automation, and a severance package.”
“I feel so happy that we have a new contract,” said Esmeralda Avila, a pantry worker at Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate. “We work so hard to ensure conventions and guests are taken care of and with this new contract, one job is enough and we will have something to show for all our hard work. I feel like a valued member of the team and am looking forward to going to work under this new contract. I’m also really proud that we won protections for temporary workers who work alongside us everyday. With this new contract, temporary workers will be getting union benefits and wages and won’t be left behind.”
“These last 7 months have been hard working without a contract, but my coworkers and I were united and it was also great fighting alongside my dad to win this contract,” said Dylan Schoenhard, banquet server for Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate at Las Vegas Convention Center. “With this new contract I feel great, like I have a first-class job and I’m happy that we won the technology language that all the other Culinary Union members have already which will ensure my coworkers and I have a say in how technology impacts us in the workplace. Finally having a contract means that I have stability and security and that feels amazing!”
“I feel really good to have a new union contract. My coworkers and I really stood together and held strong and when you stand united, you can get something that’s really fair,” said Jeremy Schoenhard, banquet server for Sodexo LIVE! / Centerplate at the Las Vegas Convention Center. “We no longer have second-class jobs. We have first-class pay, benefits, and job security, so I couldn’t be more excited for myself and all my coworkers.”
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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 145,000 Nevadans, the Culinary Union’s members and their dependents.
The Culinary Union is Nevada’s largest Latinx/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 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, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, laundry and kitchen workers. The Culinary Union has been fighting and winning for working families in Nevada for 88 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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