LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — While many visitors came to Las Vegas for the weekend, thousands of employees were not back to work at our local resorts. This left a staffing gap that many properties are dealing with.

There have been various posts on social media, from some tourists expecting pre-pandemic treatment to claims they are not seeing enough staff. There have also been posts from workers, who say they can’t keep up with demand because they are not yet fully staffed.

8 News Now reached out to the Culinary Union. They confirm not everyone is back to work, with 50% of the 60,000 union members still unemployed.

The union is fighting for their workers to return to the jobs they had pre-pandemic, but there’s an issue here. It’s not a matter of filling these positions, according to the union spokeswoman Bethany Khan:

“Places like Station Casinos fired thousands of people during the pandemic, now wanting workers to reapply and compete for the same jobs they had before. That is not right.”

They say it’s not right.

Station Casinos sent us the following statement:

“Well over a thousand of our former Team Members have returned to work at various Station Casinos properties—and they are all being paid at the same or a higher rate and are receiving the same or even better benefits upon their rehiring.  And that doesn’t even include the large increase to wages we made just last month.

Station Casinos

The Nevada Resorts Association tells us:

“Nevada’s resort industry is focused on expediting the recovery of our tourism-based economy, continuing to bring more and more employees back to work and filling positions as quickly as possible.

Resorts continue to have much less demand during the midweek due to the lack of significant meeting and convention business. This fluid situation causes necessary staffing levels to fluctuate, based on current demand.

As occupancy levels are increased and visitation builds and becomes more predictable, we will see more employees return, which is what our members have been looking forward to since the March closure.

Nevada Resort Association

8 News Now reached out to several Las Vegas Strip resorts. MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts couldn’t confirm or deny they are facing a staffing shortage during the influx of visitors. The Venetian Resort says it is not experiencing staffing shortages and is focused on regular seasonal hiring.

We do know from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority that more than a million people visited Vegas in the month of February.