Station Casinos appeals order to negotiate a union contract

Station Casinos is appealing a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board ordering Green Valley Ranch to negotiate a contract with the Culinary union.

Representatives of the Las Vegas-based casino company on Thursday filed the appeal in the District of Columbia circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

The court has set a Dec. 31 deadline for filings in the appeal made after the board on Monday ordered Green Valley Ranch to “bargain with the union as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the employees.”

“By failing and refusing since July 23 to recognize and bargain with the union as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of employees in the appropriate unit, the respondent has engaged in unfair labor practices affecting commerce,” the order says.

A representative of Station Casinos declined to comment on the matter citing the pending litigation.

Station has maintained that the union “engaged in objectionable conduct” during its campaign to unionize, admitting that it has refused to bargain.

But the NLRB board said Station failed to produce any new evidence or arguments to support its case.

Union officials on Thursday rallied behind the NLRB ruling issued by board chairman John Ring.

“We urge Station Casinos to recognize their workers’ voices and votes at Green Valley Ranch and begin contract negotiations in good faith immediately,” Geoconda Arguello-Kline, secretary-treasurer for the Culinary Union, said in an emailed statement issued Thursday.

The campaign to unionize workers at Green Valley Ranch, a Henderson resort with 495 hotel rooms, 2,262 slot machines and 48 table games, is more than a year old.

In a two-day election supervised by the NLRB on Nov. 8-9, 2017, 730 Green Valley Ranch workers voted in favor of union representation of several employee groups by Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, which represents more than 57,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno.

The union in July asked the NLRB to order collective bargaining and after a series of filings and testimony, a three-member panel ruled for the union.

Workers at a Station-managed tribal casino in California ratified a union contract in October 2015. 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 2018).

The company has made allegations about the unionization campaign and vote at Palms similar to those at Green Valley Ranch.

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