Culinary union to conduct ‘secondary pickets’ of Palms partners
The Culinary union has undertaken a new tactic to pressure Station Casinos’ Palms property to the bargaining table.
The union that represents 60,000 casino workers in Southern Nevada will picket Palms partners, starting with celebrity chefs Marc Vetri and Michael Symon.
Vetri recently opened Vetri Cucina and Symon, Mabel’s BBQ at Palms.
In a two-day secret-ballot vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board in April, 84 percent of 614 employees voted in favor of union representation.
Station has maintained that the union “engaged in objectionable conduct” during its campaign to unionize, admitting that it has refused to bargain and has appealed the election results.
The union is hoping pickets at Palms partner companies would persuade them to leverage their business relationships to convince the Palms to re-enter negotiations. Federal labor law allows “secondary picketing.”
The union did not indicate when they would begin picket lines and whether any of the actions would occur in Las Vegas or at the Palms property.
Culinary officials indicated they also have pickets planned for America First Action Inc.; Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum restaurant in New York; Revolve, a private equity-backed e-tailer; partners of Fertitta Capital, the private investment vehicle of Palms’ owners; and the law firm that worked on the recent purchase of yachts by Palms’ owners.
Representatives of Station Casinos, operators of Palms, declined comment on the new tactic.
Workers at four Southern Nevada Station properties have unionized following NLRB elections: Boulder Station (September 2016), Palace Station (March 2017), Green Valley Ranch (November 2018), and Palms (April). The Green Valley Ranch vote also is in dispute.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.
