It came down to just a few votes, but a majority of employees at Las Vegas’ venerable Palace Station casino have narrowly rejected union representation by Culinary Local 226.
“We are extremely pleased that our team members at Palace Station voted to reject union representation despite an aggressive organizing campaign by the Culinary Union,” said Richard Haskins, president of parent company Station Casinos. “We appreciate their vote of confidence and view this as confirmation that our team members do not feel the need to change our current relationship?which is based on mutual trust and respect.”
The final tally of the secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board was 266-262, with three votes being challenged.
But Culinary officials accuse Station of manipulating the vote by offering raises days before the election, and they say they will petition the NLRB for a new vote.
“Most egregiously, management announced just after the union filed for the election that it would be giving workers a raise, and did so a few days before the election was held,” said the union’s legal counsel Eric Myers. “This is a tactic that the National Labor Relations Board has repeatedly condemned as interfering with the conditions necessary for a fair election. We are confident that the NLRB will find this tactic warrants a new election.”
Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline said the union would continue its organization efforts at Palace Station, the oldest of Station’s 16 Southern Nevada properties.
“We commend the Palace Station workers for their courage and resilience in the face of the massive anti-union campaign the company waged against their own employees,” she said in a statement.
