Station Casinos Fires Back at Culinary Union After March

Late last week, the Culinary Union in Las Vegas marched on the need to rehire workers and now, Station Casinos is challenging the unions motives.

Late last week, the Culinary Union of Las Vegas saw several people marching on the Strip to bring awareness to the large number of employees still out of work. Around 21,000 people have yet to be rehired and the union wants to see this number go down dramatically. Station Casinos, an operator of several casinos in the state of Nevada, says that the Culinary Union is not correct in its approach to see employee rehired.

The Union says it wants employees to be rehired and for Las Vegas to be successful once again when it comes to tourism. Station Casinos says that the union is being wishy washy when it comes to the employment process.

Get it Straight

A spokesperson for Station Casinos commented this week that on one side, the Culinary Union brags about how many employees are back to work, stating that 65% of its members are working. These individuals are in their positions due to the union contract protections, according to the group. Station Casinos then points out that the Union also says that 35% of employees are not back at work, which goes against their positive spin on the union contract protections.

Station Casinos also discussed how the new Right to Return law is playing against employees. The new law in Nevada is supported by the union, with the group stating that it will ensure employers are offering certain jobs to those who were laid off.

However, the operator calls the law a dumpster fire because hiring has slowed down and fewer employees have been hired than they would been otherwise due to the liability trap connected to the law.

Some believe that time is still needed to get back to the 2019 employment numbers. The number of employees in the hospitality sector of Nevada was continually going down for several years, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major layoff scenario, where 10s of thousands of people were without jobs.

Over the years, employees have also been replaced with technology and capital investment, which lowers the ability for new employees to come in.

Government Programs Affected the Labor Market

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people were laid off and without work, the federal government stepped in to assist. Programs were provided to help those that were laid off or furloughed. Extra benefits were provided via unemployment assistance and loans provided to small businesses to keep them afloat.

Businesses that wanted to hire people had a difficult time due to employees having the ability to shop around for a position to find higher pay or a better work environment. At the same time, casinos were able to focus on automation options, which led to a lesser need for human employees in certain positions.

For now, Station Casinos is calling out the Culinary Union for its actions. In the meantime, there are still people without work that need a job. Will things get better in the entertainment sector?  Will casinos offer quality positions to those who are waiting to be rehired?

There is also a possibility that COVID-19 may continue to pop up in odd variants and lead to additional outbreaks in Las Vegas due to the tourism levels in the region. This would throw another issue into the mix when it is certainly not needed. We shall see over the next few months how the region fares, if more jobs are offered, and just how much better the job market is for those in the casino sector.