FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, October 17, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Meghan Cohorst: mcohorst@unitehere.org ▪ (239) 503-1533
Culinary Union members take action at 7-Eleven’s When We Were Young Festival -
7-Eleven: Stand up for Sky Chef workers!
Las Vegas, NV – Workers for LSG Sky Chefs have a message for the tens of thousands of festivalgoers who are expected to attend this weekend’s When We Were Young presented by 7-Eleven music festival: Some fresh food products sold at 7-Eleven convenience stores come at the cost of low wages and health care benefits that cost too much for many workers to afford.
10,000 workers are employed by LSG Sky Chefs in cities across the U.S., including about 200 in Las Vegas. While they primarily prepare, pack, and deliver food and drinks served inflight by major airlines, some Sky Chefs workers also make prepackaged sandwiches, salads, and other fresh food items up for sale at certain 7-Eleven stores.
“7-Eleven has spent a lot of money to sponsor and promote this festival and it’s all part of an attempt to rebrand itself as relevant, edgy, and modern,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “We’ll be talking festival attendees outside the When We Were Young Festival because we want the public to know that behind the free Slurpees and fancy branding, there is a real human cost associated with 7-Eleven’s sandwiches and salads that are prepared by Sky Chefs workers who, because they are covered by a national collective bargaining agreement, haven’t been able to benefit from the Culinary Union standards we have fought for and won over 90 years. Sky Chefs workers have low wages and expensive health care and it’s time for that to change so that they can better provide for their families.”
Sky Chefs workers report that they earn unlivable wages (the minimum in Las Vegas is $14) and that their employer-provided health care plan is prohibitively expensive. Sky Chef workers, whose wages and benefits are covered under a national collective bargaining agreement with UNITE HERE, have been working to negotiate a new union contract with better wages and benefits since their contract became amendable at the end of 2018.
“I’ve been working for Sky Chefs as LAS Airport for 21 years. I’m earning just $15.50 an hour, which isn’t enough for me to pay for both my bills and my family health care - that costs $168 every single week,” said Josefina Rebollar, a porter at Sky Chefs. “Sky Chefs clients are corporations with lots of money, including major airlines and 7-Eleven. The work we do helps make their business possible. That’s why we’re calling on 7-Eleven to tell Sky Chefs that we need a new contract with better wages and health care that we can afford.”
7-Eleven is the primary sponsor for When We Were Young presented by 7-Eleven, a two-day music festival that will draw thousands of attendees and popular musicians including Blink-182, Weezer, and Avril Lavigne to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. Sky Chefs workers plan to educate festivalgoers about their fight for a new contract by engaging with the public outside the event with free materials including branded ear plugs and festival glow sticks.
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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 Latino/a, 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 60% immigrants. The demographics of Culinary Union members are approximately: 54% Latino/a, 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 90 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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