LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Legal representatives of Station Casinos stepped into federal court Tuesday, which was the beginning of 39 hearings about alleged deliberate attempts to weaken union support.
Culinary Union Local 226 – which represents most hotel workers in the Las Vegas valley – and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – a federal agency that protects the rights of private sector employees – called the acts illegal. That’s seen in a 2021 NLRB complaint that alleged that Station Casinos used employee layoffs to undermine union activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The allegations include laying off employees amid state-mandated gaming closures before eventually rehiring them without their recall rights and benefits or negotiating with the union. It further accuses Station Casinos of unlawfully circulating and encouraging workers to sign anti-union petitions, which led to the withdrawal of union recognition at Boulder Station Hotel & Casino and Palace Station Hotel & Casino.
Jennifer Hanson said she fell victim to part of the actions. The banquet server spent 18 years at Red Rock Casino before earning full-time status, which allowed her to quit her airline job she was working at the same time beforehand.
“It was a family affair. We all, except for one of my children, worked at Red Rock,” Hanson said in Downtown Las Vegas Tuesday morning. “(Station Casinos) already knew I was a supporter of the union. I wore the buttons to work. I was proud.”
After she, her family, and most other coworkers were laid off during the pandemic, she was called back. Her seniority, vacation, insurance, and other benefits were not. Hanson now works nine on-call server and bartender jobs, including at Red Rock Casino.
“Instead of me getting my full-time position that I worked 18 years to get to, I was then put on the on-call list and I very rarely get any jobs there,” Hanson said. “I want my job back. I want the one job back so that I can know why my schedule is and know where I’m going every day and not having to change my uniform in the car.”
The Culinary Union first filed a federal complaint before that of NLRB. Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said workers at Station Casino properties make $3 to $4 an hour less than other union contracts they negotiated.
“The case is one of the largest labor law enforcement actions in U.S. history,” Pappageorge said outside the Foley Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse Tuesday morning, where the first hearing was being held. “All the folks that should have come back to work with their seniority need to be put in their proper positions. They need to be made whole with any income missed and benefits they had to pay out.”
“We’re going to demand that (Station Casinos) bargain, but at this point, it’s in the hands of the court, and the government, and the judge, and we expect them to go full force after these lawbreakers,” he added.
The Fertitta Brothers, majority stakeholders of Station Casinos, were ordered to eventually testify. The trials are scheduled through the end of the year.
Station Casinos provided 8 News Now with the following statement:
Station Casinos has no comment on the pending legal proceedings, other than to note that they are part of the Culinary Union’s continuing, unsuccessful, and multidecade harassment program targeting Station Casinos and designed to convince Station Casinos to ignore the will of its team members, who have never accepted or roundly rejected the Culinary Union at six of our seven large properties. We offer best-in-class pay and unequaled benefits to our team members, including top-notch free and convenient health care, a groundbreaking retirement benefit that is far better than the Culinary Union pension, and many other epic benefits not offered anywhere else in the Las Vegas Valley, including any union property. No amount of noise, bluster, or harassment from the Culinary Union will turn our team members’ “no” to the Culinary Union into a “yes,” and the Culinary Union should immediately stop using litigation to overturn the democratic will of our team members.
Over 3,000 Station Casinos workers are represented by Culinary Union Local 226.
