MEDIA ADVISORY FOR:
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at 5:30pm
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
No contract? No peace! Culinary Union to picket Valley Hospital as essential workers push for a new contract
Las Vegas, NV - Culinary Union to picket Valley Hospital as essential workers push for a new union contract.
WHO:
*Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for Culinary Union
*Diana Valles, President of the Culinary Union
*Valley Hospital workers
*Culinary Union members
WHAT: Picket of Valley Hospital
WHEN: Wednesday, August 17, 2022 from 5:30pm-6:30pm
WHERE: Valley Hospital (620 Shadow Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89106)
WHY:
Culinary Union represents approximately 90 housekeeping, cooks, cashiers, kitchen workers, and stewards at Valley Hospital. Valley Hospital is union busting and is trying to take away good Culinary Union health care and pension from workers.
Valley Hospital employees are essential workers who haven’t had a contractural raise in 6 years and they deserve one. Workers are fighting to keep their Culinary Union benefits, pension, health care, and job security.
Valley Hospital has fired 4 Culinary Union members who were leaders in their workplaces, including most recently, Betty Williams, a committee leader and 40-year Culinary Union member. The company also decided to suspend the Culinary Union organizer from the property and interfere with the Culinary Union’s right to access of workers and the unionized workplace.
Since 2017, Valley Hospital has made $1.5 billion in revenue and sent over $100 million to its out-of-state corporate office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. In the same time period, Valley Hospital has given its housekeeping and dietary workers $0 in contractual raises. Valley Hospital’s national company, Universal Health Services (UHS), paid its CEO a total of $97 million from 2017 through 2021.
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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 87 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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