MEDIA ADVISORY FOR:
Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at 10:00am Pacific
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bethany Khan: bkhan@culinaryunion226.org ▪ (702) 387-7088
Culinary Union press conference: Station Casinos on trial for union discrimination in one of largest labor law enforcement actions in US history, NLRB hearing begins Tuesday in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV - Station Casinos will be on trial for union discrimination beginning this week - Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are 39 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing days scheduled for 2024 in which the government will be prosecuting the case against Station Casinos’ allegedly illegal anti-union conduct in its campaign to defeat their own employees’ choice to unionize.
The trial will cover the NLRB’s General Counsel’s allegations that Station Casinos used COVID-19 layoffs to undermine worker’s efforts to unionize and that it unlawfully withdrew recognition from the union as bargaining representative for employees at Boulder Station and Palace Station in August and September 2020. The complaint, issued April 13, 2021, alleges that Station Casinos engaged in unilateral actions such as layoffs, terminations, implementing new health and safety standards, and other workplace changes without bargaining over them, and that the company’s unlawful actions against its own employees were discriminatory, aimed at weakening union support.
WHO:
*Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for Culinary Union
*Diana Valles, President of the Culinary Union
*Station Casinos’ workers
WHAT: Culinary Union press conference as Station Casinos trial for union discrimination begins
WHEN: Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at 10:00am Pacific. Livestream: www.Facebook.com/Culinary226.
WHERE: Foley Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse, 300 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89101. Press conference will be at the public assembly area by the front entrance steps near the flagpole.
WHY: Station Casinos, its parent company Red Rock Resorts Inc., and its properties face a series of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cases that together constitute one of the largest labor law enforcement actions in American history that could result in massive financial liability.
“We look forward to the federal government making the case beginning this week against Station Casinos and its properties for their shameful anti-union and anti-worker behavior, for workers being heard as they testify in the hearing about how they were discriminated against, and for justice to be reached,” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “We are confident that the government will find that Station Casinos violated the law, just as it recently found that Red Rock Casino violated the law. It’s shocking to see a major gaming company behaving very badly in the Nevada gaming industry. Even as the Gaming Control Board does nothing about one of their licensees (who holds a privileged gaming license), the company will be held accountable by the federal government starting with the hearing this week. Culinary Union is also doing outreach to Station Casinos partners which include celebrity chef Marc Vetri, Blue Ribbon Restaurants, and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. These partners need to know that Station Casinos continues to be outlier in the Nevada gaming industry for the way that they treat its workers."
Station Casinos being on trial for union discrimination comes after a three-member federal panel found in June 2024 that Red Rock Casino’s “extensive coercive and unlawful misconduct” between September 2019 and June 2020 “stemmed from a carefully crafted corporate strategy.” The NLRB ordered a Cemex bargaining order for Red Rock Casino Resort Spa to bargain with the Culinary and Bartenders Unions, the first such order in a NLRB decision since Cemex issued. The NLRB also issued a Gissel bargaining order in that case.
In its June 17, 2024, decision affirming a 2022 Administrative Law Judge ruling, the NLRB found that “the most important unfair labor practices were planned and executed by Red Rock Casino and Station Casinos’ top management and owners.” Instead of complying with the NLRB’s order to bargain with the union in good faith, Red Rock continues to litigate on appeal.
The evidentiary phase of the current trial, beginning July 30, 2024, will cover allegations that Station Casinos used COVID-19 layoffs to undermine worker’s efforts to unionize. The complaint alleges that Station Casinos engaged in unilateral actions such as layoffs, terminations, implementing new health and safety standards, and other workplace changes without bargaining over them, and further alleges that Station Casinos carried out a discriminatory scheme to weaken employee support for the union. This culminated in the unlawful withdrawal of recognition from the union as the bargaining representative at Boulder Station and Palace Station based on anti-union petitions that Station Casinos encouraged employees to circulate and sign, according to the complaint.
Also notable during one of the largest labor law enforcement actions in American history is that Station Casinos co-owners, Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta, must appear at trial since Station Casinos lost its effort to block an NLRB order compelling them to testify. The details of when the Fertitta brothers will take the stand are not yet available.
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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 60% 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 89 years.
CulinaryUnion226.org / @Culinary226
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