Lacking a permit to protest, members of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 defied local police and demonstrated in front of the Palace Station on February 12 in Las Vegas.
Hundreds of Culinary Workers and Bartenders Local 165 marched along West Sahara Boulevard in defiance of local police, who did not stop the protest, after local officials denied it a permit to march along the street.
Culinary Workers Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 are in a years-long fight to organize Station Casinos’ about 5,000 non-gaming workers in Nevada.
Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline claimed Las Vegas Metro Police denied the union’s request to protest due to campaign contributions from Station Casinos to Sherriff Joe Lombardo.
Las Vegas Metro Police quickly doused the claim, saying Las Vegas and Clark County officials approve or deny permits to demonstrate and protest, not the police department. Las Vegas Police made no arrests during the event.
Station Casinos Corporate Communications Vice President Lori Nelson said the protest is part of the union’s ongoing campaign of harassment and misinformation.
“The Culinary Union continues to stage protests and aggressively harass and spread lies against our company out of their continued frustration they haven’t been able to persuade the majority of our employees to join their Union,” Nelson said in a statement Feb. 12.
“We are proud of our 40-year history of treating our 12,000 team members with dignity and respect as well as support their right to join a union if they so choose as that decision is theirs not ours to make.”
The union is advocating a card-check ballot, in which workers simply check a box indicating whether or not they want union representation. Station Casino’s said it is willing to abide by a secret-ballot vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.
