GAMING:

Culinary sees opportunity after Station makes its move

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008 | 2 a.m.

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The wedge that the Culinary Union has been working to drive between Station Casinos management and its employees just got a lot bigger Monday, after the nonunion gaming giant told its workers the company would no longer contribute to its 401(k) plan.

Such corporate contributions to retirement plans are protected in the Culinary’s contracts with Strip operators, and the Culinary will likely be wielding that argument to Station workers as the union continues its quiet campaign to unionize the company. The union is notoriously tight-lipped about its campaign for fear of management reprisal, but labor leaders have made their intentions clear.

After the Culinary’s endorsed candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, lost the popular vote in Nevada’s presidential caucus this year, the union outlined to membership a series of goals, including organizing Station Casinos. Station, it said, “can no longer be outside the union family.”

Station is a major target: It owns and operates 10 major casinos and, at last count, employed 14,000 people, according to its Web site.

On Monday, Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor declined to discuss the union’s organizing efforts, but nevertheless weighed in on Station’s decision to suspend its retirement contributions — and made a pitch for union membership in the process. He called the move the “most draconian” of any gaming operator since the economy turned.

“Station has decided, for whatever reason, that they no longer are going to be in a position of helping people retire in dignity,” Taylor said. “This illustrates that without guarantees in writing, nothing is safe.”

And then: “When you don’t have a voice and it’s done unilaterally, you’re at the mercy of the company alone.”

Culinary contracts mandate employers contribute 59 cents per hour worked to an employee’s pension, Taylor said.

In a letter to employees, Kevin L. Kelley, Station’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the “extreme economic downturn” forced the company’s hand and that suspending employer contributions effective Jan. 1 was “part of ongoing cost control measures.” Station, he said, would “reevaluate the potential reinstatement” of matching contributions “on a periodic basis.”

The Culinary and Station are bitter rivals.

The feud goes back to 1993, when, believing it had majority support and the cooperation of the owner, the Culinary ran a conventional organizing campaign at the Santa Fe and won an election to represent the resort’s workers. The owners disputed the result and dragged out the appeals and bargaining process until 1999, when the property was sold to Station Casinos. Station then dismissed the workers in a wholesale firing.

The Culinary challenged the move, filing complaints with both the National Labor Relations Board and Nevada gaming regulators. It lost both challenges. The union has also purchased Station stock and protested at shareholder meetings, objecting, for instance, to an executive compensation plan it said would dilute share value.

Taylor, citing reports from workers, said Station has taken a “slash and burn” approach to employees in the economic downturn. The company, he said, has fired cooks in its employee cafeterias and has plans to close coffee shops and restaurants at some properties, fire workers and subcontract operations.

Unlike Culinary members, those workers have no recall rights and lose seniority in the event they’re rehired, Taylor noted. “That’s not a layoff,” he said. “It’s a termination.”

Station spokeswoman Lori Nelson declined to comment on the specific charges.

“Everyone is well aware of the relationship the Culinary Union has had with our company,” she said. “They have tried unsuccessfully for years to organize our team members and continue to use corporate harassment tactics against us. We’re not going to lower ourselves to Mr. Taylor’s level and respond to his accusations.”

The appetite for unionization at Station properties is unclear, but labor experts say moves such as suspending retirement contributions set the stage for organizing drives.

“When employers start to change work rules and working conditions, cut wages and long-standing benefits, change ownership, those are the kinds of things that drive workers to join a union,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor professor at Cornell University who studies union organizing. “The more of those changes that happen at once, the more likely workers are to start an organizing campaign and the more likely the union is to win.”

Still, the Culinary has refused to revisit the secret-ballot election after its Santa Fe experience. The union has organized most of the Strip and downtown Las Vegas by “card check,” a process wherein a majority of workers sign cards signifying their support for the union. Under federal labor law, employers do not have to honor such cards and can demand an election.

That could change though. Big Labor is seeking legislation that would essentially make the Culinary a model. The law, dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act, would allow workers to form a union by card check, stiffen penalties for employers who commit unfair labor practices during organizing drives and impose binding arbitration in bargaining cases in which the sides cannot agree.

President-elect Obama has vowed to sign the bill into law if it comes to his desk.

Discussion: 12 comments so far…

By Future2012

12/2/08 at 7:17 a.m.

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Monday, Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor declined to discuss the union's organizing efforts of Station Casinos, but the Taylor and the Unions should be more worried about retaining the jobs for their current Strip operators union members.

With the latest Strip operators Union agreement the price point for casino services has cost thousands of union jobs, while Station Casino is retaining their team members.

Lack of a Union at Station Casinos allows the owners (including the pro-union Greenspun family, which owns the Las Vegas Sun) to address the current recession in the most favorable way for employees.

Culinary contracts mandate employers contribute 59 cents per hour worked to an employee's pension, but if you have no job you get no contribution. Station is in a position of making that contribution next year when conditions improve.
By BigStack

12/2/08 at 10:06 a.m.

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Would be a bad time to organize. Even if they get a contract, the company can declare bankruptsy and void it.
By azsk8fan

12/2/08 at 10:44 a.m.

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People need to boycott ALL station casino's - period -
By dave202

12/2/08 at 11:12 a.m.

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Fool. Boycotting Station Casinos will only further hurt the workers. If the company goes bankrupt, all bets are off. Now is the time to frequent Station Casinos and support the workers who do such a great job.
By tvegas

12/2/08 at 12:45 p.m.

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I agree....Boycott Stations..they have nothing but contempt for their customers and maybe their employees.

I have never seen a company that treated their customers so badly. If they go bankrupt ...good riddance. The properties won't disappear, they will be taken over by another operator...although they all seem to have the same low opinion of their customers.
By LasVegas2009

12/2/08 at 1:04 p.m.

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Any bankrupt company hurts all of us in Las Vegas these companys are trying to survive. If they go bankrupt where are we all going to work? If it was citigroup the government would be writing checks. Why dont they help some of the businesses in Las Vegas. No employers=no jobs and then what do we do? This is not a time to burden these companies cause it just goes down hill to the employee. If you have a job now keep it! If they take away some perks, smile and be glad you have a job. Lots of people in Las Vegas are hurting.
By LVSD

12/2/08 at 3:51 p.m.

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Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor should be more worried about his members retaining their jobs then trying to force Stations Casinos to Unionize. When the economy is down as it is today people should be glad for the jobs and benefits they do have. Boycott Stations Casinos, that's just DUMB. These people must have agenda's against Station Casinos or are Culinary Union members disguised as customers and spouting the Union Agenda.
By johnevegas

12/2/08 at 4:36 p.m.

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"I have never seen a company that treated their customers so badly."

Really? Then you haven't been around much. Try US Airways some time. "No! You can't have another bag of pretzels!"

Station Rocks. Always treated well at GVR and Sunset. Won $100 bucks on 4 hands of Draw Poker two nights ago. Only spent $5 to get it! Why go anywhere else? The Strip is for visitors!
By azsk8fan

12/3/08 at 7:37 a.m.

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There are plenty of other casino's off the strip besides a Station Casino - brag all you want about the lousy hundred bucks you won off of a 5.00 bet.........can't imagine what that win REALLY cost you over the long haul. Stations has gone way down hill as far as I'm concerned and it will be a cold day in hell before I go back there. GVR - always has been too tight and now Sunset is following suit - don't worry about the employees - Stations will outsource more jobs whether we show up there or not -
By azsk8fan

12/3/08 at 7:46 a.m.

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Here's part of the reason why Stations is so pathetic - a couple years back, around Labor Day, when gas was first teetering at the 3.00 per gallon level, we went to Sunset - played to get our '100 points' and then in line for our free coffee cup. When we got to the head of the line I got my cup and my husband was told that Sunset wasn't his 'home' casino (news to us). We were sent to the Rewards Center and spoke to some kind of a supervisor who advised us that because my husband spent more money the previous month at GVR his 'home' casino status was switched from Sunset to GVR - mine didn't change because I never go to GVR - never liked it and never will........now this supervisor 'assured us' that since his points were earned they would show up and all he had to do for a lousy free coffee cup was to drive over to GVR to get it - some customer service huh - with gas being 3.00 gal. it was hardly worth the drive for a dumb coffee cup so I gave mine back along with both our of player cards and left. A couple days later I get a call from someone at Station casino who agreed with me that the 'STUPERvisor' could have explained how their system works (for future reference) and then just given him the damn coffee cup as a gesture of good customer service.....I said I appreciatd the call back but as far as I was concerned we were done with Station casinos - and we have been for over 2 yrs. And guess what - I don't miss them a bit as I've found many other locals casino's that are much nicer and treat their customers way better than Stations ever did.
By tvegas

12/3/08 at 3:48 p.m.

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To azsk8fan

It is precisely this type of management that will put Stations out of business...no common sense..employees afraid to do the right thing because of their idiot supervisors..all coming down from management that is absolutely clueless.

BOYCOTT STATIONS
By bartender

12/5/08 at 10:08 a.m.

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Bankrupting Stations would be a benefit to America and to Nevada. The owners are milking the customers and employees, and you stupid ass employees who think different are just like those slaves to the company store of years past. Wake up you dumb asses. You are the draw, not the behind the scenes big fat Fertittas. Stop going to any Station casinos property, please, and get your dignity back!