The company has racked up 88 unfair labor practice violations, which is a Las Vegas record, according to the union. Workers have marched by the thousands, and on one occasion 150 were arrested for blocking traffic. Although management had said it would recognize a union if workers wanted one, Station ignored the petition, signed by servers, housekeepers, maintenance workers, bartenders, porters, and kitchen staff. A year later, a majority had signed up, and 4,000 people marched on the chain’s headquarters, demanding union recognition. Station workers took their campaign public in February 2010. The effort pits the powerhouse 55,000-member Culinary Union, a division of UNITE HERE, against owners of the 18-casino Station chain, including Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and billionaire brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. Six thousand workers will gain a union if the drive is successful. charts in foreclosures for 22 months after the economic bust. The campaign occurs in a town that topped the U.S. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Medina said. He’s among a dozen workers who have been terminated in what the Culinary Union describes as the largest current private sector organizing drive in the U.S.
Mario Medina managed to wear a union button for two-and-a-half hours before he was fired by his Las Vegas employer, Station Casinos.
