Ted Pappageorge is the Secretary-Treasurer (2022- present). He previously served as President (2012 - 2022) for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226.
Ted is a native of Las Vegas and has been a Culinary Union member since 1982. Ted worked as a Busboy at the Sands, Barback at the Sundance, and a Bartender at the Mint, Horseshoe Club, and Riviera Hotel. As a single father of two young children, he wanted to protect healthcare and job security for his family, so he got involved as a negotiating committee member and played a key role as a picket captain in the 9-month Horseshoe Strike in 1990.
After the Horseshoe Strike successfully ended, Ted had the opportunity to join the Culinary Union staff in 1991.
Ted spent the last 30 years organizing non-union and union workers who were fighting for respect and dignity at work. He has dedicated most of his life to developing worker leadership programs and building power inside workplaces with Culinary Union members on-the-job.
Ted has been negotiating collective bargaining agreements for over 20 years and is one of the chief negotiators for Culinary Union contracts that protect 60,000 workers. Ted’s goal is to secure good union wages, healthcare, and benefits for Culinary Union members and their families. In 2018, Ted helped win the strongest and most comprehensive technology, immigration, sexual harassment, and safety language in the history of any union in the United States.
Ted holds the following leadership positions: Vice President and Executive Committee Member of the UNITE HERE International Union, Trustee of the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, Trustee of the Culinary Pension Fund, Trustee of Culinary Health Fund, Trustee on the Culinary and Bartenders Housing Partnership Program, and Executive Committee Member of the Nevada State AFL-CIO.