Las Vegas locals giant Station Casinos said it will no longer recognize or bargain with the Culinary and Bartenders unions at its Boulder Station casino hotel after a majority of the union members there signed a petition to rescind their membership.
The action comes amid widespread layoffs and furloughs at casinos around the city as the market continues to wrestle with the effects of Covid-19.
Station, a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Red Rock Resorts, has been battling the two unions for years to try to nullify successful membership drives at seven of its eight properties. The company has lost court battles and been cited by the National Labor Relations Board for unfair labor practices but still refuses to bargain collectively for wages, benefits and working conditions as required by federal law.
More than 350 Boulder Station workers voted to join Culinary Local 226 in 2016𑁋a majority of more than two-thirds of those who voted𑁋and have yet to negotiate a contract.
“We call on the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 to immediately recognize and respect our team members democratically made decision to reject the union at both Red Rock and Boulder Station,” the company said in a statement.
Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline responded with a statement accusing Station of a pattern of union-busting and said an unfair labor practices complaint has been filed with the NLRB challenging what she says is an unlawful withdrawal of recognition.
The Culinary and Bartenders unions, affiliates of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International, represent around 60,000 resort industry workers in Las Vegas and Reno.
In the meantime, the two unions also are fighting for guarantees that furloughed workers will be reinstated once business around the city returns to normal.
Several hundred idled workers demonstrated outside the Clark County Government Center on August 19 for passage of a “Right to Return” law slated to come before the County Commission on September 1.
The demonstration was held as part of a statewide “Save Our Jobs” drive organized by the AFL-CIO and covering some 87,000 casino and service industry workers, health care workers, operating engineers, transportation workers and auto industry and stage and theatrical workers.
“We want people to have peace of mind, to get through the pandemic and still have jobs,” Arguello-Kline said.
