Culinary union to Station Casinos: Now's the time to negotiate

The Culinary Union has had some long fights in its history.

The active picket line outside the Frontier hotel-casino went on for more than six years.

The effort to organize The Venetian and Palazzo lasted from before the hotel even opened in 1999 and ended in 2024, a span of 20 years.

And efforts to organize local giant Station Casinos have been going on for decades, with no contract in sight.

All that may be changing, however, even as a legal case is slated to be heard by the United States Supreme Court.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Station leaders and workers were joined by gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford and all three of Nevada's Democratic members of Congress, including Steven Horsford, a card-carrying union member who once ran the Culinary's training center.

They had a simple message for Stations: "It's time to lay down the sword and pick up the pen," said Culinary secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge. "We are going to win."

WATCH: Culinary Union calls on Stations Casinos to drop legal fight and negotiate contracts Culinary to Stations: Now's the time to negotiate

Pappageorge was celebrating a recent victory along a long timeline of facing off with Stations.

After years of organizing, the Culinary in 2019 prepared to hold a federally supervised election at Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. But before that election could happen, Stations offered a generous benefits package to its employees. When the vote finally happened, workers rejected the union.

Pappageorge said the company's tactics were illegal, and the National Labor Relations Board appeared to agree. Stations sued, but a federal judge and the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the labor board and directed Stations to negotiate with the union.

Stations is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court and asked for a pause on the lower courts' orders while the matter is argued. But last month, Chief Justice John Roberts denied that motion.

For the union, the procedural move was a "monumental victory," Pappageorge said.

"They have an opportunity now to sit down with their workers and their legally elected representation to negotiate the Las Vegas standard, and that's a critical part," Pappageorge said. "Station Casinos is the third largest gaming company in the state. It is a morally right thing to do for them to sit down and negotiate a fair contract with their workers, and we are asking them to do that and sit down and do the right thing."

Stations responds

In response, a Station Casinos spokesperson released a lengthy statement. It reads:

"Station Casinos continues to pursue its objection to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) recently affirmed. The Company asked the United States Supreme Court to pause the D.C. Circuits mandate pending further review, arguing that the decision unfairly overrides the clear, free, and open vote of its Team Members, who overwhelmingly rejected the union. Though the Supreme Court declined to pause the mandate, Station Casinos nonetheless intends to seek the Courts review of the underlying NLRB and D.C. Circuit decisions. In the meantime, Station Casinos will comply with its obligations under the orders."The NLRB decision overturned the clear vote of Red Rock team members rejecting the Culinary Union. It prevents any company from granting benefits to its employees if it is aware of union interest in unionizing the companys employees, and it nullifies the Red Rock team members vote to be union-free, all because Station Casinos treated its Team Members 'too well.' Station Casinos does not believe it is correct or consistent with the purpose and stated mission of the National Labor Relations Act to punish Station Casinos (and its Team Members) for providing best-in-class benefits to Team Members based on a dubious theory that doing so 'undermines' the union."Our Team Members have continued to reject the Culinary Union for good reason. Station Casinos has been recognized by its Team Members as one of the 'top employers' in the state; by Forbes and Statista as one of America's Best Large Employers of 2026; by Newsweek as one of America's Greatest Workplaces by State; as a top workplace in Nevada for the sixth consecutive year; and as the USA TODAY Top Workplace."Workers want security

Jennifer Hanson has worked at Red Rock for about 20 years. She said she and three children who also worked at the company lost their jobs during the pandemic. She's only had a few shifts as a banquet server since returning, and works in other casinos around the city.

"I'm hoping that they do the right thing and that we all can sit down and negotiate, because finally it's here, it's happening," she said after the Tuesday news conference. "Please, I would just love to make sure that we all sit down and have a good conversation and we don't have to keep going back and forth and we're going to get a good contract."

Hanson said her co-workers at Red Rock want job security.

"They want better pay, less pressure from management, to be able to stand up for what they want, to be able to organize and have no repercussions from that," Hanson said.

Station Casinos pitches its properties which are located in suburbs in Las Vegas and Henderson as places for locals, with perks such as free parking, restaurants and amenities including movie theaters.

Channel 13 asked Hanson what she thought about the company's slogans about loving locals and treating employees some of whom have worked for the company for decades as family.

"That's hard for me because maybe they only love locals that are not union," she said. "I thought at the beginning it was a great place to work. I still love working there. However, you can't treat your employees like this and then continue to say 'we love locals' and 'we are a family' because my family no longer works there. It's just me, and I'm only there because they had to hire me back."