Regulators break silence on Culinary Union dispute with Station Casinos

Between its planned rapid expansion in Southern Nevada, the topping off of what will become Las Vegas’ newest casino and the installation of an IGT cashless wagering system at some of its properties, Station Casinos has been all over the news.

And dogging the city’s largest locals casino company every step of the way has been Culinary Local 226.

The union’s representatives have attended every gaming regulatory meeting since March, and they’ve delivered the kind of commentary Station Casinos doesn’t appreciate — jabs over its ongoing labor dispute with the Culinary union.

With each passing month, the Culinary has gotten more and more aggressive with its rhetoric slamming the company.

Recently, it questioned whether the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission have the ability and desire to discipline Station for its alleged misdeeds.

Regulators have stayed silent through every Culinary appearance, until last month. Members of the Gaming Commission broke their silence, explaining during a licensing hearing for two Station executives why they haven’t said or done anything about the Culinary complaints.

The reason, they said, is that they’re waiting for the National Labor Relations Board to reach a conclusion on litigation involving Culinary’s dispute with Station. The company has appealed rulings by the NLRB, and commissioners said they are willing to let that play out before taking any kind of action.

Ongoing dispute

Culinary’s dispute with Station goes back for more than a decade.

The union has pursued union representation votes at multiple Station properties. In six of seven votes, the union was successful. The losing side would make an appeal to the NLRB, and, in one case, the union filed a lawsuit against Station.

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

Earlier this year, Judge Gloria Navarro ruled the NLRB regional office’s argument that 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 August meeting, Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of Culinary, questioned regulators’ ability to oversee Station.

“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,” Pappageorge said during a public comment period.

“And if you can’t act here and are powerless, we want you to tell us. By all means if you’re powerless here, tell us what we can do to give you the power to hold bad actors like Station Casinos accountable,” he said. “Station Casinos has a huge footprint in this valley, and their actions have a wide reach in our community. So we all suffer when they are not held accountable.”

Pappageorge said the public owes Station workers for standing up to the company.

“Workers are holding Stations accountable, and frankly you need to do the same thing, too,” he said. “If you’re not able to hold Stations accountable, please tell us. If license holders can do what Stations did during the pandemic and is doing now, and you’re not sure what you can do, tell that to the workers. We think working-class people are entitled to some answers.”

Causing no harm

It took a month of simmering for commissioners to respond.

During a September licensing hearing for Red Rock Resorts Chief Financial Officer Stephen Cootey and Chief Legal Officer Jeffrey Welch, commissioners took turns discussing their views of how the company is handling the ongoing dispute before voting unanimously to approve both licenses.

“I have no idea when and if there will be resolution,” said Commissioner Steven Cohen. “My comments are aimed at then — when and if there is a resolution. If there were finality to anything in the documentation, then I think there would be different questions for you than I have today.”

Cohen said it is the policy of the commission “not to intervene or intertwine in ongoing litigation.”

“I certainly do not want to be responsible for anything that would harm the Culinary union and any positions they are taking. I certainly don’t want to harm any positions that Station Casinos may have,” he said.

Commissioners Ben Kieckhefer and Rosa Solis-Rainey said they’ve been happy with the track record Station has established in Las Vegas, “building beautiful properties and hiring thousands of local residents.”

“But I will say I am very concerned with the preliminary findings, especially with respect to you two individuals,” Solis-Rainey said of Cootey and Welch. “That’s going to be a high threshold for you to overcome, but it gives me great concern when any kind of administrative body raises issues against our licensees.

“That’s not something I say in order to affect the ultimate outcome. I don’t know what the ultimate determination will be in respect to the labor dispute, but I do hope that you are listening to these people. We’ve heard them month after month, and they seem to have legitimate issues I hope the company is listening to.”

Solis-Rainey said she felt a response Welch made to the Control Board was “dismissive.”

Welch apologized.

Contacted earlier in the week, Station executives said they had no further comment on the matter.

“We tend to litigate in the litigation,” Welch said. “Week after week, month after month, we take public abuse. To the extent that frustration was reflected in the answer to their question, it was not our intention” to be dismissive.

The Culinary’s campaign against Station continued in more public comments at the Gaming Control Board’s October meeting.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.