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Culinary Union staff member Mickey Ituarte chants during a rally and picket line organized by the Culinary Union Local 226 to condemn Station Casinos’ anti-union campaigns in front of Palace Station in Las Vegas Thursday, March 11, 2010.
Saturday, March 13, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Sun archives
- Culinary Union alleges unfair labor practices at Station Casinos (2-25-2010)
- Station Casinos reaches deal with key lenders, hopes to emerge from bankruptcy (2-25-2010)
- Bankruptcy judge urges Station Casinos, creditors to negotiate (1-25-2010)
- Fertittas seek to block creditors’ lawsuit in Station bankruptcy case (1-12-2010)
- Station Casinos bondholders want permission to sue (12-29-2009)
- Culinary Union sides with Station Casino’s creditors (11-23-2009)
- Culinary Union statement critical of Station Casinos (11-19-2009)
- Creditors want to expand probe of Station Casinos deal (11-19-2009)
Sun Coverage
For more than a decade, Station Casinos has dismissed the Culinary Union’s efforts to organize its employees as a waste of time, a fruitless search for more dues-paying members. And with no visible support for the Culinary campaign, the company said the message was clear: Station workers simply aren’t interested in the union.
If that was the case, worker attitudes appear to be changing.
For the first time, employees are going public, wearing Culinary buttons on the job, talking to co-workers about the labor organization and circulating union cards throughout Station’s 10 largest casinos. Workers say their support is the result of a number of cost-cutting moves Station has undertaken as it navigates bankruptcy, including the suspension of 401(k) matching and increases in health care premiums.
Most disturbing, they say, is the expansion of subcontracted restaurants, which has resulted in the firing of longtime employees.
“Every day we come in in fear,” said Wayne Brasher, a bartender at Boulder Station. “What happened to the kitchen worker? What happened to the uniform attendant? Are we next? Everybody feels like they’re next.”
Organizers say management has responded by threatening, intimidating and firing union supporters. The Culinary has filed charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging more than 100 instances of unfair labor practices. Labor leaders say Station supervisors are targeting union supporters, changing or withholding shifts, offering extra pay and threatening termination to kill the campaign.
The federal labor board is investigating the allegations.
Station declined to comment on the charges.
On Thursday, Station workers joined hundreds of Culinary members in a picket at Palace Station, one of the company’s largest properties, calling on the locals casino giant to recognize and respect workers’ organizing rights. Maria Jessica Corona, a buffet cook at Aliante Station, said organizers like herself face an uphill battle.
“Most people want the union, but they are scared of losing their job,” she said.
Not surprisingly, the rhetoric is hot on both sides.
D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary, said the company is engaged in a “reign of terror,” predicting that by campaign’s end, “Station will be the most egregious violator of labor law in the hotel and casino industry in modern times.”
Station spokeswoman Lori Nelson fired back, suggesting the union support at Station was artificial, the picket “a continuation of the Culinary Union’s 13-year campaign of harassment against our company.” The company, she said, has “always treated our employees with dignity, fairness and respect” and recognizes workers’ rights to join a union.
Nelson highlighted Station’s distinction as one of Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” four years in a row, through 2008. She also noted the company’s on-site child care and its in-house programs to help employees purchase homes and become citizens.
“We’re not anti-union,” she said. “We’re pro-employee.”
Of the allegations that restaurant workers have been fired, Nelson said Station closed 10 casino-operated restaurants over the past 18 months, leasing the spaces to Denny’s and Coco’s.
She said the company struck a deal with the chain operators at the time to retain a majority of Station workers at equal pay and hours. Nelson said she was unaware of any subsequent changes the chain restaurants made.
Station’s bankruptcy seems to be driving the intensity of both parties.
For the Culinary, the reorganization presents a strategic opening. The union has used bankruptcy proceedings in the past to outmaneuver hostile employers.
In 2000, the Aladdin opened nonunion and fought the Culinary’s organizing efforts. But when the debt-laden company filed for Chapter 11, its expenditures, including those for management-labor lawyers, became subject to court approval. The union then stepped up its campaign, staging protests and filing complaints of unfair labor practices.
Likewise, as Station battled with its lenders in court last year, the Culinary effectively aligned itself with a group of aggrieved creditors, blaming a management-led buyout for the company’s bankruptcy filing. The union issued a detailed report on Station’s financial woes, arguing that the company could have avoided bankruptcy had it not pursued a $5.7 billion deal to take the company private in 2007.
It concluded with a call for creditors to demand that Station’s owners reinvest a significant portion of the profits from the deal to help the company recover.
Station dismissed the report as “silly” and maintained that its reorganization is the result of the recession, not the terms of its leveraged buyout.
But the union’s campaign seems to be having an effect.
After months of legal wrangling, Station announced last month that it had reached a deal with key lenders that could clear the way out of bankruptcy this summer. The announcement came on the same day the Culinary went public with its organizing campaign, led by hundreds of Station employees companywide.
Under the deal, Station Chairman and CEO Frank Fertitta III and his brother Lorenzo Fertitta, would make a substantial but undisclosed equity investment, and the current management team would continue to lead the company.
Indeed, Nelson cited a union mailer with the heading “Now or Never,” saying “they recognize we will be even stronger when we emerge from bankruptcy.”
The Culinary hopes to capitalize on public outrage over the bank bailouts, pitching its organizing campaign in populist terms. Taylor said company insiders, led by the Fertitta family, nearly tripled Station’s long-term debt to take the company private, netting more than $660 million in the process.
“It’s exactly why people are angry in this country,” Taylor said. “The very few ran off with a ton of money and we’re all having to pay for it. Now, the people who made off with the money are saying they shouldn’t have to pay it back. Station went into bankruptcy and the creditors and the workers have been left with the bag. Workers are fighting back.”
Station, meanwhile, is using the Great Recession against the Culinary, noting that it has lost thousands of members through layoffs and hour reductions.
“We’re surprised that the Culinary Union’s leadership continues to spend its members’ dues on stunts like this instead of using their resources to find jobs for thousands of unemployed Culinary members,” Nelson said.
“It’s disingenuous to tell our team members they can provide job security for them when the facts demonstrate that the Culinary cannot provide job security for its own members.”
The union acknowledges the limits of its job protections. But Taylor emphasized an important distinction: Laid-off Culinary members retain their seniority and have the benefit of recall rights in the event a company starts hiring again.
Contracts, he said, also ensure union representation at most subcontracted operations.
During my time working at a union property on the strip. I learned that the union protects the weak. I also learned that the culinary union really fosters a "us versus them" attitude when it comes to hourly employees and managers. This is bad for everyone. Really bad for Vegas. I've sat at a busy bar at Caesars Palace and got terrible service from long time union employees that are only at the busiest bar on a Friday night because they have been there the longest. Not because they are the best bartender. Those bartenders think they have earned that spot. I don't think they have.
I'm not totally anti union. My wife is in a union, I have a daughter in the Culinary Union. But I also have two twenty something sons that are both great hard working bartenders and both have earned those very busy Friday night shifts at non union restaurants in less than a year. And just to be clear I believe we have thousands of hard working caring people both union and non union members providing great hospitality to customers everyday in this town. The key is they care about what they do
What if you went to work and were part of the team. What if you went to work and managers and employees all worked together to take care of Vegas' guests. I'm pretty sure Vegas would provide better service without the Culinary Union and probably be much more affordable. Unions had a time and place but not now and not here. That's just my opinion.
Sheesh ! these people are lucky they have a job!! this is the problem we face today, those who believe they are entitled to more than they deserve..
here they cone, the anti-people crowd. more than they deserved-lol-where's your outrage at the family that ran this company into the crapper, all those execs making thousands more than they deserved. go back to your rat holes.
i'll never spend $1.00 in a station casino if they go union.
i won't give money to people that vote every 2 years to take more money from my paycheck.
Station Casinos was voted one of the best companies in the country to work for many years in a row. When times were good, they took VERY good care of their people and were very much "Pro employee"
Apparently their ungrateful employees have a very short memory. Too bad the Fertitta's were so generous previously. They have probably learned their lessons though.
Casinos need to toss out the labor unions entirely. Let them all strike - screw 'em.
"We're surprised that the Culinary Union's leadership continues to spend its members' dues on stunts like this instead of using their resources to find jobs for thousands of unemployed Culinary members," Nelson said.
Taylor emphasized "It's disingenuous to tell our team members they can provide job security for them when the facts demonstrate that the Culinary cannot provide job security for its own members." The union acknowledges the limits of its job protections.
So it is about more due for the Union bosses and a war chest to influence elections.
Lets see how much they spend for 2010
Remember when the MGM opened? It was the union that was threatening and intimidating then.
The Fertitta Boy have ruin this company. The Union is not the answer, this result of bad managment and greed in taking the company private. The restructing of Station Casino was done to line the pockets of the Fertitta and to remain in control of the casino while keeping the investors on a short string.
Do your homework, the Fertitta's associations will open your eyes. ....Argent Corporation, Allen Glick, Frank Balistrieri, Joey Cusumano, Carl Thomas, James Tamer, Tony Spilotro, Gaspare "Jasper'' Speciale, and a few others, all were good friends and associates of Frank Fertitta senior. Mayor Oscar Goodman know this story well, he represented this group, this still is his family.
If you work as a team why would you need a union.
Some people in the union are slacker and do not care because they know they will not get fired.
So when you have one slacker it pulls the hole team down.My grandfather told me unions were good when they started but now they put the companys out to dry.Why would you pay for a job weekly unless you are a slacker.
Why should we as workers have any right to tell a company how to operate their business? The unions promote this point of view, social justice; we can change your employer. Maybe the union should open it's own casino, put the workers money where the unions mouth is, so to speak.
Most workers today don't appreciate the benefits that ALL workers enjoy today because of unions.
I believe in the free market for employment.
Benefits and pay should not be artificially dictated by unions. Unions are archaic as the idea that public sector employees should get pensions.
Employees have the right to choose where they want to work. Employers should have the right to hire, fire, and compensate employees as they see fit - as long as those practices are in accordance with labor laws.
A person's performance alone should determine the rewards they receive, not some mandated union entitlement.
Haven't been in a Station casino in over 3 years and suggest no else goes either.
ecm
Good Point
Maybe the union should open it's own casino, put the workers money where the unions mouth is, so to speak.
I bet they would not demaned hire pay,match 401,health care and more.
If Station Casinos goes Union I will go there but will not tip anyone. That is what I do at the casinos that are union now. I usually leave a note on the table saying why they don't get a tip. I've been followed out of restaurants by irate surley waiters but I can swear as well are they can.
I'm a frequent visitor to Green Valley, and an occasional one to Sunset. Virtually all of the cocktail waitresses and all of the change people are fantastic.
If they go union, add me to the list of people that will find a new place to gamble that is non union.
Union's had a place in ancient history. Now they are simply destroying our country by allowing mediocrity, forcing companies to outsource due to unskilled labor wanting ridiculous wages, and bankrupting company after company.
Keep the stations non-union. Clearly if they were one of the best workplaces in the country for multiple years, they must have been doing something right for their employees
If Stations goes union, count me among those who will shred my player's card and never darken their doorways again. Unions breed laziness. Why should I work harder than Joe Blow if we're both guaranteed the same rate of pay and future raises.
What a ridiculous, one-sided, mistaken perception of Stations Team Members this reporter has presented! In today's lead story, Michael Mishak and Sun editors have taken a handful of our company's biggest screw-ups (self-entitled opportunists too lazy to seek employment elsewhere), and printed their silly rhetoric against their own employer as evidence that: "(our) attitudes appear to be changing".
In fact (though Mr. Mishak doesn't seem to be bothered with seeking the other, and vastly more popular view AGAINST the unionization of Stations), the majority of our work-force is more inclined THAN EVER to keep Culinary out!
Look around our properties, Sun staff. Chances are that you'll see more ANTI-union buttons than the smattering of pro-Culinary propaganda pins. Or better yet, try INTERVIEWING one of the thousands of our workforce who are just trying to ride out this bankruptcy with our jobs still intact. I assure you, most of us could provide you volumes of verifiable quotes on how Culinary has stalked, harassed, and intimidated US for years. (While Lori Nelson's comments are accurate, she's not a member of the rank-and-file who has to deal with the unions' smarmy tactics daily). After THAT, a more balanced story of this battle can be presented.
Unions? Outdated and out of control. It is inconceivable that union organizers can work on private property to try to undermine what is already a good working relationship. Anyone who places their future in the hands of the unions is resigning themselves to a lifetime of "us versus them" when in reality, it is more often not that way.
What are they these people thinking? The economy is tanking and you want what? For every one of you that quits there are at least ten waiting to take your jobs. Wake up and smell the coffee, this time is not the right time to play hard ball. Too many skilled workers looking for jobs.
Hey, if any of you posters want a real laugh at the Sun's anti-journalistic expense, check out a close-up of the photo of the guy which is captioned a "passing" driver!
Looks like they forgot to blot out his shirt logo!
Did all you anti-union comment people here got paid off with a chunk of that $5.7 Billion and $660 million dollars?, or maybe that Lori Nelson got a big piece of that $5.7 billion dollars.(anchorbine) you say union bankrupting the companies, BULL, you mean unions made these greedy aholes go private and increase debt?, wrong, jackass.
if you think the anti union sentiment is strong now, wait till they start getting their tax break on health care while their neighbor's pay 30% or higher on theirs.
No, "thinknium," I did not get "paid off" with a "chunk" of anything.
How about you go take a risk and start a business from scratch with your own money, then come back in ten years and tell me how "pro-union" you are. Until then, eh, you are entitled to your unbalanced opinion, and I am entitled to counterbalance it.
thinknium;
I definitely was not paid off. As to unions bankrupting business, that can and does happen, it's called the death of a thousand cuts.
Far worse is bankrupting an entire state. This link is to a story from 2004 regarding California.
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured...
Station Casinos
2004-2008 Fortune 100 best Companies #18, #33
2007 The Fertitta family took control and delisted the stock
2008 Suspend matching contributions to employee retirement investment accounts and cut some staff
2008 both Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta were listed as billionaires in Forbe's annual list
2008 Aliante Station opens
2009 Station Casinos filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy
2009-2010 Station Casinos laid off employees and sub contracts there job.
Someone citing an article written by the "Freemen" as proof? What's next, eye witness accounts from martians?
Cadaver: "Just another group who can be easily tricked into believing they should be and will be paid (as union members) $40.00 per hour to put slop on plates and serve the paying public"
Who told you that? Your greatly misinformed.
Anchorbine: "Now they are simply destroying our country by allowing mediocrity, forcing companies to outsource due to unskilled labor wanting ridiculous wages"
That is one issue the current station employees have. They were hired at one amount but now to save money Stations is eliminating their job and outsourcing for less.
Wolf8523: "Some people in the union are slacker and do not care because they know they will not get fired."
Again incorrect as far as 226 goes.
No different organized or unorganized for getting fired. Most big companies have procedures in place to protect them from wrongful termination.
CJJames; You object to the author also, or just where the article was published?
Steven Greenhut is a columnist for the Orange County Register in Santa Ana, Calif.
-active1- "No different organized or unorganized for getting fired. Most big companies have procedures in place to protect them from wrongful termination."
Horribly incorrect.
In the privatized sector (anywhere but the socialist republic of California), it's generally
verbal, written, written, termination.
With unions, unless you come to work with an Uzi, it is virtually impossible to get fired, even then, the union rep goes to bat, and a terribly subpar employee must be retained or put on suspension with pay.
Look at the abuses the some of the firefighters have been shown to be doing with overtime and sick pay with zero ramification. You don't think a private organization would have put a screeching halt to that immediately?
What of the teachers union, a union with zero accountability or any measurable tools in place to accurately rate the teaching staffs.
When unions begin to create business instead of destroying it, I'll be on your side active, not until then.
ECM-Anything carried by the "Freemen" is suspect.
wah, wah, wah. So you are anti-union. Good for you.
These workers are wise to seek representation.
Good for them!
Only an idiot lets their employer walk all over them! Protect your rights!
No good worker ever needed a union.
Labdaddy A good worker with bad management does.
I honestly do not see what the people hope to get out of this. They are not going to get more money, Stations wages meet or exceed most Culinary Union postings. Stations has a grievance procedure that is actually better than the Culinary Union's. The Culinary Union's retirement program is expensive and cumbersome. And the Union can't protect workers from outsourcing or layoffs. Just ask workers at the MGM that have been laid off or outsourced. What will end is Station's commitment to place all laid off workers. I know plenty of laid off workers who have been placed and din't lose seniority. Also Stations kissy kissy, HR attitude will end too. Have a complaint? Go talk to the Union... And judging by the horrible way that my wife and I have been treated by the Culinary Union in the past, it won't be a treat for anyone if Station's goes Union.
a good worker with bad management probably already quit to work someplace else.
and once again...how DARE people that take a risk, work hard and build a company actually make a ton of money off of it.
if you are union, those people are greedy.
if you are not union, those people are your idols.
Good management renders the union question moot.
Let the workers decide for themselves in the fairest manner possible.
BTW, Wizard of Oz: ARE YOU REALLY HELEN WEILS? Cuz, I swear, your'e every bit as rude and annoying.
Unions are horrible. Uneducated, poor workers who can't get along on their own. Let the market decide what your skills are worth, not your negotiators.
To side with billionaire casino owners against its workers is a shame. These people on average dont make enough to buy a home, a new car or send their kids to college. The casinos claim poverty, declare bankruptcy and yet go out and buy other properties and pay their officers huge salaries, ask for tax rebates. I choose to side with the worker.
-active1- "No different organized or unorganized for getting fired. Most big companies have procedures in place to protect them from wrongful termination."
Horribly incorrect.
In the privatized sector (anywhere but the socialist republic of California), it's generally
verbal, written, written, termination.
With unions, unless you come to work with an Uzi, it is virtually impossible to get fired, even then, the union rep goes to bat, and a terribly subpar employee must be retained or put on suspension with pay.
Look at the abuses the some of the firefighters have been shown to be doing with overtime and sick pay with zero ramification. You don't think a private organization would have put a screeching halt to that immediately?
What of the teachers union, a union with zero accountability or any measurable tools in place to accurately rate the teaching staffs.
Were talking local 226 so don't change the subject to prove your point. Have you not herd of people being laid off or fired on strip properties? I take it you don't even know a person in this union? Ask most any worker of the local and they fear losing their job.
Vegasguy: "Uneducated, poor workers who can't get along on their own. Let the market decide what your skills are worth, not your negotiators"
The sad fact is todays market is minimum wage - $10/hr for low skilled work and sometimes $12-15 for a 4 year degree. Supply and demand only works to a point. Then the workers need to say there not going to live in poverty, while the owners are in the billionaire club. And that supply / demand is the reason for organizing. One person can stand up for themselves but it is pointless when there is an unlimited source of workers willing to work at poverty wages. Hence the reason for organizing.
As far as education level that's a BS statement. I know people with batcher degrees in the culinary.
The problem with many of the union haters is they are jealous. They think the union person is making crazy money, doesn't have to work, and has such easy job. The money is about par with non-union. Many of the jobs have performance requirements and physically challenging work.
Wow. It is tough and scary to stand up to a boss who is on the verge of bankruptcy and threatening to fire or actually firing people left and right. It sounds like the owners thought they could get away with a chunk of cash in a leveraged buyout, and then the creditors could have their way with the workers. We all know that would mean pay cuts, mass layoffs or even liquidation. Unions may not be perfect, but they are the only weapon workers can use to stick up for themselves in a crisis like this. No one wears a button for a cause they don't support. I hope the Station workers win their union.
Unclegig and Active 1 both made good comments. I can see some legitimate arguments on both sides...it's just unfortunate that we are in the midst of such a long, deep recession. The divide between the haves and have nots is rapidly growing. If Las Vegas is the city of the future, one wonders what the future of Las Vegas is going to look like. It seems like the new economy might never be able to support the current number of casino resorts and businesses on the strip and downtown. Then what?
typical liberal statement:
"These people on average dont make enough to buy a home, a new car or send their kids to college"
who freaking cares?
people that work at mcdonald's can't buy a porsche.
should THEY make $80.00 per hour? should a big mac value meal cost $19.00 to pay for their $80.00 per hour salary so THEY can have a porsche, but you can't?
want to own a home, a nice car, and send your kids to college?
don't scrub toilets at palace station. work hard, network, and get a job SELLING the toilets to palace station...or even better...start a business that MAKES the toilets for palace station.
the haves and the haves nots has been going on for 1000's of years. i LIKE the fact we have poor people. i LIKE the fact if you get up each day and sit on the sofa and complain about how you should have more money, while i'm out MAKING the money...i like the fact your money is out there for me to take. i LIKE the fact if company a builds a better mousetrap than company b...company a makes more money.
i like the fact that if a company takes a gamble and hires a worker making widgets and that worker makes 100 widgets per hour, but every other worker makes 200 widgets per hour...i like the fact that company can fire the 100 widget person to bring in another person that CAN make 200 widgets per hour. that new person could be me, or you, or your friend.
i like the fact the free market decided the apple ipod is much better than the microsoft (a much larger company) zune. i like the fact a company took the risk and made the investment in a game called "gran turismo" and made a ton of money off it instead of us still playing "pole position".
Stations is a good company with good casinos I like to go to. Adding union problems will only make them go under faster. Recessions are recessions, and people have to accept it.
I miss the in-house cafe locations and would never go to a cocos or dennys inside a casino. What for?
To see unions run wild, just go to the airport (run by the county). Those people care about nothing except their own comfort. Customers be damned.
Labor Unions: Responsible for the 8 hr workday, Overtime pay, Minimum wage, Safety in the workplace, Drug-free workplace, Negotiated Benefits, Some form of Retirement security, Job security and dignity in the workplace. But, you RATS are correct, who needs em...
The Bush Regime was strongly anti-union, look where that got us...
Well, there You go again! Ronald Reagan started the dismantling of organized labor. George W Bush accelerated it, as well as Clinton. The Average wage has been stagnant or decreased over the last thirty years.
Las Vegas needs tourists from the rest of the country. If, the middle class can't afford to come here because of low non-union wages, then Las Vegas will continue our steep decline.
Most of our industrial base has been replaced by jobs at WalMart. Another great non-union company!
If you are one of the lucky ones who works at Walmart that makes the princely sum of $12 per hour, maybe you can come to Las Vegas for your wedding and your twentyfifth anniversary!
Until some of you posters realize that our economy has been gutted of good paying jobs and replaced by low paying jobs, we will live in a dystopia.
Bad Pay, Bad benefits, dead end jobs, no future! These will be the realities of most Las Vegans and Americans.
But hey, at least Big Business,Bill Gates and the Waltons will be well compensated. So lets hear it for the Rich, Hip Hip Hurrah! These are the people that count.
Social justice for working people,
FORGET ABOUT IT!
The Super rich and big business have rigged the system so workers can not get a fair shake in America. They own the courts, the banks, and the government. The only way that citizens will get a fair shake is to fight for what is right.
You anti-union brain washed people are like dogs for their masters. Even though the master beats you he feeds you, so you defend him out of fear and respect.
So go ahead and defend Big Business. Go ahead attack working people, they deserve you derision! Workers deserve to treated poorly, if they don't form unions and stand up to the man!
stevem -
I agree with your earlier rant, (as if you care, I know), but for two things: I agree that you should sell toilets instead of clean them - except young people are taught to get good grades to get to a good school and graduate with a good degree all to get a good job - instead of owning the business yourself. I have no degrees and started several businesses. And most successful people have done it that way - they just went out there and did it.
The second thing is liking the fact there are poor people doesn't really help anyone. They can't buy the things or services one has to offer and they are the recipients of services everyone complains about them getting.
It does sound more and more that when ones applies for a job they make sure they get a copy of an HR manual or ask questions of the prospective employer. A little research on the web of a potential employer is also a good thing. I saw an ad for managers at one LV based firm - checked them out on the Internet and discovered they were guilty of various City violations time and time again so that was the end of that.
ya, look where "the bush regime" got us, huh?
ipods, facebook, iphone, twitter, hulu, gps in our cars,...all done without union labor.
ya...capitalism is evil, huh?
Nelson highlighted Station's distinction as one of Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" four years in a row, through 2008.
This is the propaganda that Station feeds the public to substantiate its lower than industry wages and benefits. Stations has annual employee surveys to find those that are most brainwashed by company propaganda. Only those select few, that gave the company a positive vote, were invited to participate in a separate survey submitted for the Fortune Magazine survey. If 99 out of 100 people think I am scum, I interview that 1 person that thinks I am great and tell the world I am the greatest based on that one persons opinion.
"The second thing is liking the fact there are poor people doesn't really help anyone. They can't buy the things or services one has to offer and they are the recipients of services everyone complains about them getting."
actually, it DOES help people. knowing that there is a "worse case scenario" and a "bottom rung" forces people (unless you are a liberal) to work and achieve to be above that.
want to be a ups driver instead of the guy that loads the boxes onto the truck?
don't get a d.u.i. and lose your driver's license.
want to work in marketing with a nice office for mcdonald's instead of working the drive through?
go to school and get a degree in marketing instead of popping out 3 kids by the time you're 19 so you have money TO go to school.
there has to be a penalty for coming in 2nd, 3rd, 458th, 1,905th place in life so those that come in 1st place have a REASON to work and strive to be in 1st place.
the number of new millionaires in america INCREASED last year. (google it if you don't believe me). sounds like SOME people are doing well. the guy that started facebook is like 25 years old and is worth (on paper) like a gazillion dollars...was the system "rigged" against him?
i worked for a newspaper in st. louis that was union. so, yes...i have been a union employee. i didn't have a choice.
since i was in sales they kind of gave you two options. you could get a base of like $700 per week plus like 0.005% of whatever you sold OR...you could get a base of like $400 per week and get 0.05%.
almost all the old timers were on that $700 per week base plan and unless they came in and killed someone, and they serviced their account base, they had a $700 per week job for life.
the newer guys like me that took the $400 per week plan brought in nearly DOUBLE the amount of sales. why?
we had motivation.
that newspaper, like many union papers is barely hanging on now.
why? the marketplace has changed. they have new competition, but they can't lower their prices or innovate because a bunch of 50-somethings that can't use a computer are keeping them in the dark ages.
when economy is bad that when we need union more
jaquekeno,
You are incorrect about the Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Places to Work survey. My company also applied for this award (we did not win). We had to send the Great Place To Work Institute a list of ALL of our employees. Then the Institute selected a random sampling of employees to receive the questionairre. It does not just go to people who love the company.
I have worked in management at both union and non-union companies here in Las Vegas. The main difference? In a union company, it's much harder to get rid of terrible employees. That is pretty much the only difference.
Everybody is always crying for more money. Feel sorry for me. From Sue Lowden crying, to casinos, to Firefighters, to developers, to these people, geez. It never stops. People are so selfish.
People don't appreciate their old jobs until they get laid off and remember it's not always greener on the other side of the fence. People also need to remember that casino jobs are not the most skilled and almost anyone can be trained to do these jobs. Read the paper or visit the unemployment lines and maybe you will wake up and be thankful you are still employed right now.
Palace Station was a great place to work prior to 2004 when they started playing musical chairs with the Food and Beverage managers/culinary staff.
Workers want refuge with the Culinary Union?, What refuge? the Culinary Union is a joke. Just because they work in a hotel doesn't mean they have to choose the Culinary, there are a lot of Unions out there to take thier case. All you Union haters out there remember this, the Union wages and benefits set the bar for all employers Union or not. If Union employees weren't making the money the non Union employees would be making a lot less, non Union employers usually pay well to keep from the work force from becoming a bargaining unit, so with out the Unions nobody would be making decent money or have a good benefits package, now you wake up and smell the coffee. And yes I am Union.
What is interesting to me is the poor journalism of this story. Michael Mishak quotes a bartender at Boulder Station. This bartender claims to broadly speak on behalf of his fellow bartenders.
The bartender in question claims that he, and his fellow team members, are in fear for their jobs on a daily basis.
As a person who has intimate knowledge of the day to day operations of Boulder Station, I can guarantee you, this is not true.
The vast majority of the bartenders at Boulder Station want no part of the Culinary union.
If Mr. Mishak was a better reporter, he would interview more sources other than Mr. Brasher, the lone wolf who claims to speak for his brotherhood.
I usually respect the Las Vegas Sun, but in this instance, the reporting is short sited.
The vast majority of Station workers don't want the union, and it's a shame that it is being represented in any way other than that.
you know folks, our grandparents that help establish a middle class in this country giving you the benefits of those struggles would disown you selfish little middle class haters. are there some rich people out there paying their usual $2 hour to some of these idiot posts. either you stand with these scummy owners or people. we already know stevem cleans all these ceo's toilets, and loves it.
the reality is station casinos are not pro-team members...i know...it is not that they, we, don't want the Union, it is that as team members,we should not have to day in and day out dread coming in to work, office, etc.and not knowing if we will have a job or not, in fact in this day and age no one should...Most of us have been with the company for many years, through the ups and downs, but since '07, things have been on a downward spiral...memos threatening termination if 'new' rules or policies are not followed. Termination if you call in sick more than three times in 6 months...come on, we don't even get paid for sick days. Denial of vacation days earned...How do you respect any type of mangement that is consistently changing over and over, and still looking to terminate it's hard working and guest loving staff members? well let see...
... on the same weekend that Frank F. bought one of the most expensive houses in California, half the Housekeeping staff were terminated at one of his beloved hotels...think about that.
Most of you do not work for Stations, so why do you have an opinion if this company is run correctly or not. here is an awesome examplethey don't earn 'the Best of Las Vegas...', they purchase hundreds and hundreds of Review Journal newspapers and have their own team members fill out the form...
Yeah,we are all fortunate to have jobs, but some of us would like to make a living without being threatened or being on the verge of losing what we hold so dear...because we are good at what we do and the guests love us, yet, upper management believes otherwise.
"Termination if you call in sick more than three times in 6 months."
More then 3 times would be 4. Somebody who calls in sick 8 times a year isn't a good employee. Certainly not somebody I'd want working for me.
It is obvious that The Fortune Magazine top 100 is based on the happiness of the corporate workers, (Managers, Supervisors and HR and upper management) not the hourly paid workers. Stations has always boasted about how they match or are compatible with the Unions, when they are not any where near the same ball park. Station's workers have to pay for their own health care out of their own wages. Union members get free health care. Stations does not have a Pension plan for their workers, just that foolish 401-K crap that they don't even match anymore. Union Members get a pension. Stations fires it's long time workers to bring in subcontractors. They claim to be pro-employee LOL, go tell the recently fired workers that one. Some of them were there for close to 35 years. Stations treats their employees with kindness, and cares about them, they say this while they are swinging the axe, LOL. The Union makes sure workers keep their jobs even during a lay-off with lay-off recall rights. Stations doesn't even offer that, so how can they say they are compatible? What a joke? And so many of you writing on this forum are so blinded by the Fertittas lies.
The truth is that big daddy Fertitta is dead and so is the blessing. The spoiled brats have ill-managed the company and cheated their way to mega bucks in the process. as it is written ill gotten gain sprouts wings and fly's away. Hey Fertitta kiss your cash goodbye. You spoon fed ninnies are getting your just desserts. I am rooting for the Union this time. I hope the Union beat those Fertitta's good. Greedy fools, who do they think they are fooling with that buyout trick, HaHa! it came back and bit you. In fact I am not ever playing at any Station Casino anymore. When I see the Union out there again, I am gonna shout with them.
Hey all you brave employees standing up to the Fertittas, More power to you and God Bless your efforts.
Shame on you Fertittas, for shame, shame, shame. Fallen from grace. God no longer smiles on Station Casinos. It's the end of an era. Might as well sell the whole lot to Boyd gaming and call it a day. HA!