Question of the Day - 16 January 2024

[Editor's Note: This answer is written by our Stiffs & Georges blogger, David McKee.]

There hasn’t been much to report lately.

The silence currently hanging over the Station/Culinary Union battlefront could indicate that the two sides are engaged in intensive negotiations — but we doubt it.

For one thing, Culinary spokeswoman Bethany Khan had nothing to report before leaving for a New Year’s Eve holiday and indicated she wouldn’t have any news until next year. We offered Station a chance to put its case on the record in its own words. but a stony silence was our only reply.

Nothing has been heard from the Culinary in over five months. On August 2, 2023, it released confidential Station documents that indicated the existence of a “M.U.D. List” amongst Station executives. The initials stood for pro-management (M), pro-union (U), and don’t know (D). A total of 2,261 names were on the list.

According to the Culinary, the list was compiled during the pandemic, during which Station laid off thousands of employees. The union’s contention was that the M.U.D. list was used to cull pro-Culinary workers when deciding whom to rehire. Station has not, to my knowledge, contested this.

The list was obtained as part of the discovery process for a National Labor Relations Board lawsuit which is now pending. Station has repeatedly gone against the Culinary in front of the NLRB and has yet to win a significant finding.

Former Fiesta Henderson employee Norma Flores alleged, “In the row with my name, there is an X and a number which meant ‘Must GO.’ During the pandemic, I went to three Station Casinos job fairs, but was never rehired. Why?” 

Earlier in 2023, the Culinary asked the Nevada Gaming Control Board to intervene between itself and Station. Citing the pending NLRB litigation, Silver State regulators declined. There the matter rests for now and I strongly suspect that the casino company and union are hunkered down in a stalemate, waiting for the federal government’s next move.