Station Casinos agrees to settlement with NLRB union

In addition, the company agreed to reimburse Boulder Station workers who were unfairly denied lower healthcare costs after they voted to unionize last fall.

The settlement agreement comes after the unions requested that the NLRB investigate alleged illegal behavior by Palace Station leading up to a union election last October. The unions fell four votes short of winning the election.

Station Casinos announced a few hours after the Boulder election in September, which the union won in a landslide, that the company was going to lower monthly healthcare premiums for every casino property in Las Vegas except for newly unionized Boulder Station workers.

One month later, shortly after the unions filed for an election at Palace Station, the company notified non-unionized workers that their lower premium rate would remain throughout 2017. The company also granted other valuable benefits to workers at Palace Station as they faced their choice to unionize, pleading with workers to give management “a chance” to improve working conditions without a union.

Both the U.S. Supreme Court and the NLRB have ruled that tactics like these violate the National Labor Relations Act. After investigating charges of unfair labor practices filed by the unions, the Regional Director of the Las Vegas Region of the NLRB indicated that he would seek an order requiring Station Casinos to correct the alleged violations and bargain with Palace Station workers. Station Casinos has now agreed to settle the charges, and recognize Palace Station as union. It also agreed to make whole Boulder Station employees for the difference in health plan premium payments.

“We commend the Palace Station workers for their courage and resilience in the face of the company’s massive anti-union campaign.” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. “We look forward to starting contract negotiations so that workers can have fair wages, job security, and good health benefits.