Culinary Union seeks Red Rock contract talks after Supreme Court denies stay

Station Casinos is being urged by the Culinary Union to open talks on an initial collective agreement covering employees of Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. The push follows a decision by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who turned down the operator's bid for an emergency pause of a federal bargaining order. As the report notes, "Roberts denied the application without explanation on September 4, 2026".

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. Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union, said bargaining dates had been offered in November.

The origins of the conflict lie in a vote held at Red Rock in December 2019. Station Casinos put a benefits package on the table ahead of that ballot, and the employees voted the union down. In the years that followed, the National Labor Relations Board concluded that the property had engaged in a range of unfair labor practices, among them coercive behaviour and discrimination aimed at backers of the union. The company rejects that conclusion.

A 2024 ruling by the NLRB required Red Rock to recognise and bargain with the Local Joint Executive Board of Las Vegas, which is tied to Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165. That decision was affirmed by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in June. Station Casinos responded by asking for the mandate to be stayed while it prepared a petition to the Supreme Court.

The order obliges Red Rock to negotiate with the union whenever it is asked to, display notices over a 60-day period and send notices by mail to present and past members of the bargaining unit employed there from September 2019 onward. Boulder Station and Palace Station must post notices as well. According to the Red Rock notice, the company commits not to question employees coercively, not to hand out benefits in order to deter union representation and not to warn of job losses stemming from a strike. Employment changes the company imposed on its own on June 4, 2020, must also be undone.

According to Pappageorge, bargaining is now federally required at Red Rock Resort and Green Valley Ranch. As for the remaining Station properties, he said they "are going through the slow process of the NLRB litigation".

Organising at Station Casinos, described by Pappageorge as the state's third-largest gaming company, stretches back to 2009. Before the pandemic, more than 5,300 workers at eight Station properties had joined a union. The union describes the enforcement case the company has faced since 2021 as one of the largest labour law cases in US history.

Culinary Union President Diana Valles said pay at Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock lags behind that of Culinary members on the Strip, with an average gap of $14,400 a year. She also remarked that "Station Casinos just had the best financial quarter in its history".

Ford remarked that "The courts have spoken". Titus voiced her backing for the PRO Act and the Faster Labor Contracts Act. Horsford, who co-chairs the Congressional Labor Caucus, pledged to keep pressing for the Faster Labor Contracts Act to become law, so that employees can secure a fair contract without depending on the Supreme Court to make employers negotiate. Lee warned that "Workers can’t afford to wait another 17 years without a contract".

A Station Casinos spokesperson stated that the company will obey the orders, but it still intends to ask the Supreme Court to review the NLRB and DC Circuit decisions underlying them. According to the spokesperson, the NLRB ruling set aside the unambiguous choice of Red Rock team members who voted against the Culinary Union, and the spokesperson argued that the decision penalises the company for the benefits it provides. The company further cited honours from Forbes and Statista, Newsweek and USA TODAY, as well as six straight years as a top Nevada workplace.