The Culinary Union of the United States has asked the Gaming Control Board to look into Station Casinos.

The Culinary Union of Las Vegas has requested that the Nevada Gaming Control Board investigate Station Casinos’ eligibility in connection with its privileged Nevada gaming licenses for violating federal labor laws. The Culinary Union is encouraging the Gaming Control Board to request that the Nevada Gaming Commission take disciplinary action against Station Casinos, including the termination of affiliates’ privileged gaming licenses.

“The Culinary Union is confident the State’s gaming regulators will want to take action against Station Casinos after they have reviewed the ample documentation and evidence of the company and its affiliates’ disregard of federal law, including the current allegations before the NLRB.” said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “No one has a right to a revocable, privileged Nevada gaming license – gaming regulators have a duty to make sure license-holders, like Station Casinos, are always operating in way befitting Nevada’s gold standard of gaming industry regulation.”

The state of Nevada has long held the position that the gaming business is critical to the state’s economy and the welfare of Nevada residents, and that all licensed gaming venues must be subject to “tight control.” Individuals and firms who have been approved to have a Nevada gaming license must continue to conduct themselves in a manner that fulfills Nevada gaming regulators’ rigorous requirements of licensure.

The Culinary Union’s request for Nevada casino authorities to take action against Station Casinos is detailed in a letter dated March 17, 2022. Station Casinos have been involved in legal issues for a long time:

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed petitions in the Ninth and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals on March 4, 2021, seeking to hold five Station Casinos properties in contempt of court for failing to bargain with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 501. The properties agreed to a consent order that, if broken, might result in sanctions.

Judge Gloria Navarro of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia imposed a “10(j) injunction” against NP Red Rock LLC (“Red Rock”) on July 20, 2021. The Court determined that the NLRB is likely to decide in an ongoing proceeding that Red Rock violated federal labor law in its campaign to defeat the union in a local election.

NLRB Administrative Law Judge Tracy delivered a ruling on October 25, 2021, in response to a motion by the NLRB’s General Counsel, that Station had engaged in contumacious behavior by failing to reply fully to a federal subpoena issued by the NLRB. This is part of an ongoing lawsuit against Station Casinos and its properties, charging that the company exploited the COVID-19 outbreak to weaken worker support for the union and illegally terminated union recognition at Palace Station and Boulder Station.

A 2019 NLRB decision finding that Palms Station Casinos refused to bargain with the Culinary Union as required by law, a 2018 NLRB decision finding that GVR refused to bargain with the Culinary Union as required by law, a 2017 NLRB settlement resulting in recognition of the Culinary Union at Palace State after the General Counsel found grounds to file a complaint, and a 2012 NLRB ruling finding that Sta.

Workers at Boulder Station (September 2016), Palace Station (October 2016), Green Valley Ranch (November 2017), Sunset Station (June 2019), Fiesta Rancho (June 2019), Fiesta Henderson (September 2019), Red Rock Resort (December 2019), Texas Station (April 2021), and Santa Fe Station (April 2021) are fighting for a union contract at Station Casinos’ Las Vegas properties (April 2021).