The Culinary Union has called on Station Casinos to begin negotiating a first union contract for Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa workers after US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts denied the company’s emergency request to delay a federal bargaining order.
Union leaders and workers met at the union’s Las Vegas headquarters on Tuesday, with Nevada Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford and Representatives Dina Titus, Steven Horsford and Susie Lee.
“We have offered bargaining dates in November, and we are asking them to sit down and begin these negotiations and to put pen to paper,” said Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union.
From a 2019 vote to the nation’s highest court
The dispute dates to a December 2019 election at Red Rock. Before the vote, Station Casinos offered employees a benefits package, and workers then rejected the union.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) later found that Red Rock committed numerous unfair labor practices, including coercive conduct and discriminatory actions against union supporters. Red Rock disputes those findings.
In 2024, the NLRB ordered Red Rock to recognize and bargain with the Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas, affiliated with Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld the decision in June. Station Casinos then sought a stay of the mandate pending a planned Supreme Court petition, but Roberts denied the application without explanation on September 4, 2026.
Red Rock must now bargain with the union upon request, post notices for 60 days, and mail notices to current and former bargaining-unit employees who have worked there since September 2019. Notices are also required at Boulder Station and Palace Station.
The Red Rock notice states the company will not coercively question workers, grant benefits to discourage union representation, or threaten job loss as a result of a strike. The company must also rescind employment changes implemented unilaterally on June 4, 2020.
Pappageorge said the order federally mandates bargaining at Red Rock Resort and Green Valley Ranch.
“The rest of the (Station) properties are going through the slow process of the NLRB litigation,” he said.
Seventeen years of organizing
The campaign at Station Casinos, which Pappageorge called the state’s third-largest gaming company, began in 2009. Over 5,300 workers unionized at eight Station properties before the pandemic, and since 2021, the company has faced what the union calls one of the largest labor law enforcement cases in US history.
“Station Casinos, It’s time to lay down the sword and pick up the pen. We look forward to winning a fair contract,” Pappageorge said.
Culinary Union President Diana Valles said workers at Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock trail Strip-based Culinary members by an average of $14,400 in annual wages.
“Station Casinos just had the best financial quarter in its history,” she said.
Lawmakers back federal legislation
“The courts have spoken,” Ford said.
Titus said she supports the PRO Act and the Faster Labor Contracts Act. Horsford, co-chair of the Congressional Labor Caucus, said he “will continue fighting to make the Faster Labor Contracts Act law, so workers everywhere have the right to a fair contract without having to rely on the Supreme Court to bring employers to the table.”
“Workers can’t afford to wait another 17 years without a contract,” Lee said.
Company maintains its objection
A Station Casinos spokesperson said the company will comply with the orders but “nonetheless intends to seek the Court’s review of the underlying NLRB and D.C. Circuit decisions.”
“The NLRB decision overturned the clear vote of Red Rock team members rejecting the Culinary Union,” the spokesperson said, and argued the ruling punishes the company for providing “best-in-class benefits.”
The company also cited awards from Forbes and Statista, Newsweek and USA TODAY, along with six consecutive years as a top Nevada workplace.
