It’s complicated. Boyd Gaming Director of Corporate Communications David Strow explained it to us this way: "While the Fremont and Main Street do have employees who are represented by the Culinary Union, the California has not since May 1985, when employees there voted to decertify the union. This was toward the end of the citywide Culinary Union strike of 1984-85; the decertification vote ended the strike at the Cal." When the votes were counted, it was 343 in favor of decertifying Local 226 and 24 against.
In total, six hotels decertified, a measure of disappointment with the Culinary’s inability to get results. Membership fell from 26,000 to 18,000 (31%). Local union leadership was replaced but the Culinary didn’t make a comeback until 1989, when it struck a compromise with Steve Wynn: He would allow the union to organize The Mirage using the controversial "card check" method. The Culinary, for its part, "agreed to simplify work rules, such as rules prohibiting certain types of workers from changing light bulbs," per the Sacramento Bee. The union grew in strength, eventually breaking the 50,000-member mark in 2005, by which time it was a rare casino owner who’d pick a fight with it.
"The Cal isn’t ‘non-union,’ however, as the Operating Engineers Union does represent some employees at the property," Strow resumes. To further complicate matters, the Fremont Hotel & Casino has both Culinary and Operating Engineers representing employees on-property. Main Street Station only has Culinary representation (though that’s a big "only"). "Any employee that is typically represented by the Culinary at other properties would fall under their purview here," Strow adds, though he’s encountered no impetus, let alone public demonstration to organize the California. "I’ve been here seven years," he says, "and I’ve never seen anything like that."
Multiple phone calls to the Culinary, to get its side of the story, failed to produce a response. Since the California has gone three decades without union representation, perhaps the Culinary has decided to let this particular sleeping dog lie.
