Station Casinos versus Culinary Local 226: Further updates in an ongoing saga

Culinary representatives recently questioned Nevada regulators’ ability to fulfill their duties.

Station Casinos has run into problems with Culinary Local 226, a union representing workers on craft lines, whose representatives have attended every gaming regulatory meeting in Nevada since March. The union has become increasingly aggressive in its rhetoric about Station.

Recently, it went as far as questioning whether the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission had the ability or desire to discipline Station for its alleged misdeeds.

Regulators have attempted to maintain a neutral face during these meetings; however, this seemed to crack last month. Members of the Gaming Commission broke their silence, during a licensing hearing for two Station executives, where they explained why they haven’t acted upon Culinary’s complaints.

The execs said they were waiting for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conclude litigation involving Culinary’s dispute with Station. The NLRB has made rulings about Station that falls in Culinary’s favor, but these rulings have been appealed. Commissioners want this appeal to “play out” before they take any sort of action.

The union has pursued union representation votes at multiple Station properties. In six of seven votes, the union has been successful, though in one case, the union filed a lawsuit against Station.

The dispute even received national attention when Democratic candidates for Presidential office met with Culinary workers in Las Vegas.

Earlier this year, Judge Gloria Navarro ruled that the Station’s announcement of a new incentives and benefits package for employees was timed to interfere with a union election at Red Rock Resort.

During the Gaming Commission’s meeting in August, Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of Culinary, questioned regulators’ ability to oversee Station. He commented: “Frankly, Station Casinos’ workers and all gaming industry workers in Nevada have a right to know whether or not state regulators have the power to discipline bad actors like Station Casinos.”

Robert Collins

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