A federal judge July 20 ordered Station Casinos to negotiate a contract with a culinary union that includes more than 1,350 employees of its Red Rock Casino. This despite the fact that the employees voted down the union in an election in December 2019.
The judge agreed with the regional National Labor Relations Board that Station’s announcement of new incentives and benefits was timed to influence the election to determine if the employees would unionize under the Culinary and Bartenders Union. The judge called the casino company’s actions a “hallmark violation” of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
The order for Station Casinos to negotiate with the union was part of an injunction that the United States District Court ordered in a case where the NLRB seeks to prove that the company violated federal labor law in several instances when several days before the election it announced that it would be making an HMO health plan premium-free and deductible-free while also increasing company contributions toward employees’ 401(k) accounts.
In the injunction the judge also ordered Red Rock to cease interrogating employees about union support, to stop promising employees increased wages or benefits to discourage them from supporting the union, changing employees’ schedules or decreasing seniority because of their support for the union—among other things. The injunction ordered Red Rock to “cease and desist from engaging in unfair labor practices, in English and Spanish, to all employees, supervisors, managers, and executives.”
Geoconda Argüello-Kline, secretary-treasurer for the culinary union, commented, “We are pleased with the federal court’s extraordinary and vindicating ruling in favor of Red Rock Casino workers. We commend Red Rock Casino workers for their courage and resilience in the face of the massive anti-union campaign that Station Casinos waged against their own employees and we look forward to negotiating and winning a union contract to protect workers.”
