EDITORIAL: Station union vote

For almost 20 years the Culinary union has waged an ugly assault on Station Casinos, using various unseemly tactics to try to disrupt business at the gaming company’s properties.

The union even went so far as to attack the wildly successful Ultimate Fighting Championship because the Fertitta brothers, who run Station, also owned the mixed martial arts organization before selling it earlier this year.

The union’s desperation stemmed from the fact that it had been unable to organize any Station casinos. In fact, though, Culinary bosses seemed far more interested in their drawn-out, imprudent scorched-earth campaign than in a legitimate organizing effort.

Station executives made clear time and again that they would live with the results of any secret ballot employee vote on unionization. But Culinary bosses, afraid of a humiliating loss, wanted no part of that reasonable proposition.

Instead, they demanded that Station agree to a card-check procedure, under which union agents simply have to collect enough authorization forms from a certain number of workers stating that they seek representation. Unions favor this process because it’s easily manipulated and employees can be “encouraged” to sign a card through threats and intimidation.

Never mind that the anonymity of a secret ballot protects workers and offers a more authentic gauge of employee sentiment.

But having made little headway in two decades, the Culinary recently changed course and agreed to an organizing election at Boulder Station, the first Station property to hold such a vote. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board announced that casino workers supported representation, 355-177.

Richard Haskins, president of Station Casinos, said the gaming company will honor the results of the election and begin bargaining with the Culinary.

Whether talks go smoothly remains to be seen, as do the results of any eventual contract.

But it’s worth noting that Station officials followed through on their long-standing commitment to allow a union vote, if their employees so desired. Perhaps Culinary members should ask their leaders whether the time, treasure and dues money spent hounding and bullying Station Casinos was worth it given that the labor organization could have potentially achieved its stated goal by simply agreeing many years ago to secret ballot elections.

“We applaud the tremendous courage and determination of the Boulder Station workers,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary.

Unfortunately, those same adjectives can’t be used to describe union bosses who for years opted to harass and menace rather than respect free choice.