Las Vegas Convention Center food workers could authorize strike

Representatives of the Culinary Union on Monday said more than 300 food service workers at the Las Vegas Convention Center could authorize a strike vote in early December, one month before the city hosts CES.

Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said a strike authorization vote could occur Dec. 7-8 if Sodexo Centerplate — the Convention Center’s exclusive provider of hospitality, food and beverage services — fails to offer an acceptable contract that includes higher pay to union workers.

Sodexo and the union are scheduled to meet in contract negotiations Nov. 29-30. The contract expired last month.

Representatives of Sodexo Centerplate, in an emailed statement, said taking a strike vote is a normal part of the collective bargaining negotiations process as the union rallies its members behind its bargaining priorities and firms up political support. They said they were not surprised by the tactic and noted no strike has been called.

Other cities involved

Food and beverage service workers have authorized or could authorize strike votes in four other convention cities as well. Culinary representatives in Orlando, Florida; Sacramento, California; Detroit; and New Orleans, said workers have similar pay issues.

Workers are demanding pay increases, saying higher costs of housing, rent, food and transportation have increased beyond their ability to keep up.

In a morning press conference, Pappageorge said non-tipped cooks, dishwashers, banquet servers, concessions cashiers and other Sodexo workers are paid an average $16 to $19 an hour.

“After COVID-19 devastated our hospitality industry, business is booming once again at the Las Vegas Convention Center,” Pappageorge said.

But he added, “The Sodexo Centerplate food service workers are getting left behind. … Their jobs are not enough to keep up with the cost of living and understaffing is making it even harder.”

Pappageorge was referring to Sodexo not hiring back all the employees that were laid off after COVID-19 closures. Union officials said the Las Vegas Sodexo workforce has been reduced to 807 from 1,438 in February 2020. Fewer employees are making the work more difficult for those employed, he said.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority statistics dispute whether convention business has returned from pre-pandemic levels.

The LVCVA’s most recent visitation statistics estimated convention attendance for the first nine months of 2022 at 3.6 million compared with 5.2 million for the first nine months of 2019. Attendance has rebounded from last year when 1.2 million attended trade shows and conventions in the first nine months.

Greater revenue

But the union said the Las Vegas Convention Center reported more conventions and greater revenue in the 2022 fiscal year compared with the 2019 fiscal year, according to an independent report.

Union officials also said a forecast by Knowland, a data provider for meetings and hospitality events, predicts convention business “will recover to 106.4 percent of 2019 levels in 2023 and 129.2 percent in 2024.”

The Culinary Union, affiliated with UNITE HERE, on Monday presented leaders from unions in Orlando, Sacramento, Detroit and New Orleans, which have distinct bargaining units in their respective cities with different contract circumstances and potential strike votes. They also had employee representatives in their morning Zoom call.

“I’m voting to strike because we are the ones that make the Convention Center successful, and we want to get a fair share of that success,” said Dylan Schoenhard, a banquet porter for Sodexo at the Las Vegas Convention Center. “We have been busy at the Convention Center, with big shows like MJBizCon. But we need higher pay because everything is so much more expensive now, especially with rent and housing. We don’t want to be treated like second-class workers.”

The Sodexo statement said it respects that its employees may choose to be represented by a union.

“Coming out of COVID, it is critical for our business to offer attractive wages and overall conditions to our employees who meet our service standards, while ensuring labor competitivity for our clients and consumers,” Sodexo’s statement said.

“Accordingly, we 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,” the statement said. “Bargaining sessions are scheduled in the weeks ahead, utilizing our experienced negotiators within Sodexo who know the industry and the union leadership well. As the negotiations continue, we will offer appropriate updates.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.