FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, September 22, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Culinary Union launches organizing campaign at Alexxa’s Las Vegas at Paris Casino, restaurant workers demand respect from owner JRS Hospitality -
Las Vegas, NV — Workers at Alexxa’s Kitchen and Bar inside Paris Casino have joined workers from Eataly Las Vegas at Park MGM in the Culinary Union campaign to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip. Alexxa’s owner JRS Hospitality has responded to their employees’ request for the company to be neutral as workers organize with anti-union meetings run by third-party consultants Labor Information Services, the same anti-union firm Amazon hired and paid $665,000.
“While Union restaurant workers fight for a new contract, non-union restaurants workers are coming together to win a better future for themselves and their families. Alexxa’s workers are organizing for equality and respect, but shamefully their efforts have been met with threats and intimidation,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “We are disappointed that Alexxa’s owner has chosen to oppose their employee organizing efforts, especially in a casino that has been union since it opened. 60,000 Culinary Union members in Las Vegas stand in solidarity with Alexxa’s workers.”
The Culinary Union has already filed a charge alleging multiple violations against Alexxa’s with the National Labor Relations Board. A leadership committee of Alexxa’s workers attended big table negotiations with the Culinary Union and Caesars Entertainment Corporation at Paris Casino last month.
"I am fighting for protection, job security, and better benefits for everyone at Alexxa’s,” said Alexia Dominguez, a food server at Alexxa’s at Paris Las Vegas for over 8 years. “I recently got engaged and that's why I want have union benefits so I can provide for my family one day. Having job security also important to me: Being able to go to work and not feeling like you're walking on eggshells and could be fired for no reason would make me feel more supported. With a union, I would feel like I someone has my back and I would feel secure and happier at work. One job should be enough anywhere. Times are hard right now and I'm only making $11.25 an hour at Alexxa's and that's not enough to survive. I think we deserve to make more money and only have to work one job to survive."
Cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, bussers, and hosts at Alexxa’s are organizing to address the deep inequality inside Paris Casino: Non-union restaurant workers work in the same property as unionized workers at Bobby’s Burgers by Bobby Flay, Brioche by Guy Savoy, Cafe Americano, Gordon Ramsay Steak, JJ’s Boulangerie, La Creperie, Nobu, The Bedford by Martha Stewart, and Vanderpump and the union workers make as much as $6.00 an hour more in wages, have free health care, a pension, and a contract that guarantees fairness for gratuities and an equitable distribution of service charges for large events.
Alexxa’s owner JRS Hospitality was founded by local Vegas businessmen Perry Rogers, Matthew Silverman, and Corey Jenkins, and Alexxa’s will be part of Club Paris during Formula 1.
“I’m fighting for a fair process to choose whether to unionize because we don’t have job security at Alexxa’s,” said Griffin Herling, busser in Alexxa’s at Paris Las Vegas for over 2 years. “At work, we are held responsible for walkouts, which I don't think is fair. We also aren't paid the same as union workers doing the same job as us in nearby restaurants and we pay a lot of money each month for health insurance, which is why I am considering getting a second job as a gig worker to get extra money.”
Earlier this month, Culinary Union launched a campaign to organize 10,000 non-union restaurant workers and a new website, UnionEats.org. The Culinary Union is actively engaging in outreach to restaurant workers who are employed in and around unionized casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. UnionEats.org now features the organizing drives at Alexxa’s, as well as at Eataly Las Vegas. The website also lists hundreds of union restaurants so that customers can support restaurant workers on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas by patronizing unionized establishments where workers are treated with dignity, have fair wages, job security, great health care benefits, and respect on-the-job.
See Department of Labor Filings for JRS Hospitality here and Labor Services Inc filings about Amazon here and here.
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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 88 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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