According to representatives from the Culinary Union, the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) could face a strike vote on December 7-8 from 300-plus food service workers, if a new labor agreement is not reached between the union and Sodexo Centerplate, the LVCC’s hospitality and food service provider.
The two sides met on November 29 and 30, but no new deal has been announced at the time of writing. The previous contract expired in October.
Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer for Culinary, said at a recent press conference that pay rates are a core issue for LVCC staff, who are arguing that “their jobs are not enough to keep up with the cost of living and understaffing is making it even harder.”
With regards to understaffing, the union said that the current LVCC Sodexo workforce is substantially less than it was pre-Covid—the current count is around 800, compared to 1,400 in February of 2020, and workers are experiencing burnout due to the added workload.
In a statement emailed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sodexo representatives said that they were not surprised by the threat of a potential strike as it is commonly seen during the course of labor negotiations.
One point of contention between the two sides is whether or not convention business has actually returned to pre-pandemic rates—according to the most recent report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the estimated attendance for conventions through September was just over 3.5 million, compared to over 5 million through the same period in 2019.
However, the union cited an independent report which asserted that the number of conventions held at the LVCC and the revenue generated by them for the 2022 fiscal year are greater than that of 2019. It also referenced a report from the data firm Knowland which predicts that the convention business will exceed 2019’s totals by 106.4 percent next year and 129.2 percent in 2024.
In its statement to the Review-Journal, Sodexo representatives said that they “will continue to engage in good faith during ongoing CBA (collective bargaining agreement) negotiations, in a sincere attempt to reach a fair and competitive set of agreements in a timely manner.”
