The off-Strip Virgin Hotel Las Vegas became the target of the first full-scale strike by Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in more than 22 years when some 700 non-gaming employees walked off the job Friday morning.

Picket lines were immediately formed at all entrances to the 1,500-room hotel-casino shortly after 5 a.m. Contract negotiations broke down on Thursday afternoon when the union and management failed to agree on a new multi-year contract. 

The strike comes a week before the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix. Virgin, which sits less than a mile east of Grand Prix Plaza, has various sponsorship deals with the race. It is also a drop-off and pick-up point for race fans using a ride-sharing service.

The Culinary and its affiliated Bartenders Local 165 have been in negotiations with JC Hospitality, owners of the Virgin, on a new five-year contract. The previous deal expired last year. 

Union leaders said the company has refused to offer raises comparable to other off-Strip and downtown resorts in Las Vegas, citing The STRAT Hotel, Casino and Tower, which gave its non-tipped workers $4 an hour in wage increases this year. 

The union said in a statement that Virgin, in comparison, only offered workers an estimated wage increase of 30 cents a year over five years after deducting money for benefits.  

Given that the cost of living has dramatically increased in the past couple of years, the number was “a real slap in the face,” Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said. “The idea that one company of wealthy private equity investors can decide to come and destroy the standards of Las Vegas — these workers aren't putting up with it, and we're not going to put up with that.” 

Tim Mckeever, who has worked at Virgin for more than 20 years dating back to when the resort was known as Hard Rock Las Vegas, said he’s begun to look for jobs at other casinos and hotels in case the strike isn’t successful. 

The 45-year-old said that as a tipped worker he makes “pretty good money,” but he’s concerned about working conditions for untipped workers. Turnover, he noted, has been significant for management, estimating that he’s had more than 15 managers during his tenure at Virgin. 

“Everybody else that's a non-tipped employee, they're suffering,” Mckeever said. “They're way behind the rest of the economy.” 

Maria Mendoza, 57, said she is one of those struggling workers. With rising grocery and housing costs, the housekeeper said that she has been struggling to make ends meet. Her salary of about $20.65 per hour simply isn’t enough. 

“Everything has gone up, except for our wages,” Mendoza said. If negotiations fail after the strike, she says she plans on leaving her job at Virgin.

In a Thursday statement, Virgin mirrored comments made last week, saying it proposed “bringing forward a portion of the wage increase that was previously proposed for years four and five [of the contract] so that there are no longer zero increases in the first three years.

“Again, the Union chose to engage in ‘take it or leave it’ bargaining, refusing to move off of a position that it knows is not economically viable for our off-Strip property and that would negatively impact all hotel team members.”

This latest strike comes after a slew of other successful agreements with major Strip resorts, including the complete unionization of the Las Vegas Strip in September, when the union won a 32 percent pay increase for about 35,000 employees over five years. Virgin Hotels’ refusal to raise wages substantially is a complete dismissal of the work standards the Culinary Union has created, Pappageorge said. 

In May, Virgin officials said they filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the Culinary Union with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that they were engaging in unfair labor practices. 

Shortly afterward, the Culinary and Bartenders unions held a 48-hour strike at Virgin Hotels to call attention to the stalled contract talks. 

Mendoza and other workers dismissed Virgin's statements that it can’t afford raises as nonsense, saying Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is owned by a handful of private equity groups that have more than $11 billion in assets and Fengate, one of the most active real asset and growth equity investors in North America. 

“Most companies can't find their money when they're in negotiation, but when they are ready to spend a billion dollars, there's plenty of money,” Pappageorge said.