Union continues drive at the Palms

Alana Roberts

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004 | 10:48 a.m.

The Palms hotel-casino has settled one dispute with the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 while another dispute remains unresolved as it makes its way through the appeals process of the National Labor Relations Board.

Meanwhile, the union is continuing an organizing drive, which began when the Palms opened in November 2001, to unionize more than 1,000 workers at the trendy Las Vegas casino resort.

In the dispute the Palms has settled, the union alleged that the hotel's managers broke federal labor laws by interrogating employees about their union membership and activities, threatening employees with discharge for engaging in union activities and erroneously telling workers that the union was engaging in illegal behavior.

As a part of that settlement, the hotel must display notices informing workers of their legal right to organize a union and pledging not to break federal labor laws by not questioning workers about their union activities and not threatening workers with discharge for their union activities. However Jim Hughes, general manager of Palms, said that the settlement isn't an admission of wrongdoing.

"We're adamant that we did nothing wrong. Since we believe we have not done anything illegal, it didn't make sense to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees so we're more than willing to do this," Hughes said.

Kevin Klein, director of organization for the Culinary Union, said the hotel agreed to settle the case in order to avoid another NLRB trial. A trial for the case was scheduled to take place on Dec. 16 but was cancelled because of the settlement.

"Instead of losing a second trial they decided to settle it," Kline said.

Another dispute is on appeal with the NLRB in Washington D.C. In September, an NLRB administrative law judge ordered the Palms to rehire a worker who had allegedly been terminated because of his union support, and to make changes to its employee manual because some rules allegedly hindered workers' rights to organize.

That judge's decision followed hearings that took place in Las Vegas in October 2002 and in February and March 2003. The Palms appealed that decision with the NLRB in Washington D.C. in November. Hughes said the hotel decided to appeal that decision because it included hiring a worker the hotel doesn't want to rehire.

"We're confident that we've done nothing wrong, that the NLRB will agree with us and rule in our favor. In the other one (undergoing the appeals process) we had the issue of putting back to work someone that we really don't want here because he wasn't a good employee," Hughes said.

San Francisco-based Administrative Law Judge Burton Litvack ordered the Palms to rehire Martin Perez, a former cook at the Fantasy Market Buffet, because he deemed Perez had been fired in January 2002 for his union organizing activities. Still, the judge acknowledged that another worker testified that Perez harassed her about joining the union while she worked and another worker alleged that Perez sexually harassed him.

Hughes said in an earlier interview that Perez was terminated because of a reduction in staff due to the downturn in the economy following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He said decisions to terminate workers were also influenced by workers' performance.

The Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun, is a minority investor in the Palms.