Nevada AG, Three Members of Congress Press Station Casinos to Finally Negotiate With Culinary Union
Culinary Union leaders, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and three members of Nevada's congressional delegation gathered at the union's Las Vegas headquarters this week to publicly press Station Casinos to begin contract talks over its Red Rock Resort, nearly eight weeks after the US Supreme Court declined to block a federal order requiring the company to bargain.
A long-running case reaches its latest deadline
The dispute dates back to a failed 2019 unionization vote at Red Rock, which the National Labor Relations Board later found was tainted by the company's conduct toward organizers. Station Casinos has fought that finding through multiple rounds of appeals, including to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which upheld the order directing Red Rock to recognize and bargain with the union; the full DC Circuit denied a rehearing in August 2026. On September 4, 2026, Chief Justice John Roberts denied Station's emergency application asking the Supreme Court to halt that order while the company pursued further appeal, letting the DC Circuit's ruling stand.
At this week's press conference, union secretary-treasurer Ted Pappageorge said it was time for the company to "put down the sword and pick up the pen," according to a report on the event. Union president Diana Valles said Station had just posted its best financial quarter in company history, arguing the company can afford to bargain. Attorney General Ford said the courts had spoken and it was time to negotiate, while Representatives Dina Titus, Steven Horsford, and Susie Lee also spoke at the event, with Titus and Horsford pointing to federal legislation — the PRO Act and the Faster Labor Contracts Act — aimed at speeding up first-contract talks industry-wide.
What the union is asking for
The union says Red Rock, Boulder Station, and Palace Station workers have not yet seen the official notices the federal order requires Station to post, and it argues that workers at Red Rock have waited nearly seven years for a first contract since the original organizing campaign. The union also claims a roughly $14,400-a-year wage gap between workers at Green Valley Ranch, which is unionized, and workers at Red Rock, which is not. Station Casinos has not publicly responded to this week's press conference; the company has previously said it intends to comply with the court's order while continuing to disagree with the underlying NLRB finding, and has argued in its court filings that its decision to raise employee pay and benefits ahead of the 2019 vote was not an attempt to influence the outcome.
Why it matters
Station Casinos is one of the largest casino operators in the Las Vegas market, and the Culinary Union is the city's largest hospitality union, representing tens of thousands of workers at most other major Strip and off-Strip properties. A first contract at Red Rock would end one of the longest-running labor disputes in the modern Nevada gaming industry and could shape how other non-union properties in the market handle organizing efforts going forward. For now, the legal avenues for further delay appear exhausted, and the pressure campaign signals that elected officials intend to keep the issue visible until bargaining actually begins.