Critics Challenge Culinary Workers Union On How To Rehire Casino Employees

Posted on: September 27, 2021, 12:19h. 

Last updated on: September 28, 2021, 06:06h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More

Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

About 21,000 employees, representing about a third of the union’s membership, remain out of work following the COVID-19 outbreak. However, Station Casinos and some UNLV professors disagree on the best way to rehire workers.

The union sponsored a recent march that advocated for more tourism in Las Vegas and to get employment back to pre-pandemic levels.

“The Culinary Union wants gaming partners in the industry to be successful, for tourists to return to Las Vegas, and for hospitality workers to be able to return to work at 100%,” according to a recent union statement.

Station Casinos Fights Back

But Station Casinos, which has been repeatedly at odds with the Culinary Union over union recognition, disagrees with the union on the rehiring debate.

“Out of one side of its mouth, the Culinary Union brags that 65 percent of workers are back to work because of ‘incredible’ union contract protections,” according to a Station Casinos spokesperson.

In the same breath, it admits that 35 percent of workers are not back at work,” the company told Casino.org. “Only in a world where incredible means toothless does the Culinary Union’s claim make sense.”

Station Casinos also has singled out the impact of a new Nevada law supported by the union: SB 386. It is known as Right to Return. Its backers argued it was needed to ensure employers offer certain jobs to laid-off workers.

Since its enactment, SB 386 has proved in practice to be even more of a dumpster fire than we feared,” the Station spokesperson remarked.

“Hiring has slowed, and we have hired far fewer workers than we otherwise would have because of the liability trap created by this misguided and counterproductive law. The Culinary Union should be honest with its members and everyone else and admit that the law does precisely the opposite of what it was intended to do — get hardworking Nevadans back to work,” the company continued in a statement.

Future Employment Outlook

Others argue it is unlikely the number of jobs will resume to those numbers found in 2019.

Despite increased total revenues, the number of persons employed in the Nevada casino industry has declined for over 20 years,” Anthony Cabot, Distinguished Fellow of Gaming Law at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, told Casino.org.

He explained that casinos steadily replaced human workers with technology and capital investment. As a result, productivity based on revenue per employee has doubled in the last 20 years, he added.

Without the pandemic, this trend was likely to have continued,” Cabot said. “The notion that employment levels will return to the same levels as in 2019 is unrealistic, unless the total resort revenues grow substantially above the 2019 level.”

Cabot further predicts a “large portion” of the remaining unemployed workers will be rehired as hotel occupancy rates continue to improve to pre-pandemic levels.

Changed Labor Markets

But changing workplace wants have made rehiring more complicated. Workers are looking for jobs with higher pay and better working conditions now that demand for employment is high, Stephen Miller, research director at UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research, told Casino.org.

Workers enjoyed the opportunity to look around and search for other jobs with higher pay and/or better working conditions,” Miller told Casino.org. So, not all of the jobs will come back. Also, not all the workers will come back as well.”

It appears labor market “creakiness is a short-run issue that will resolve itself over time, say the next year,” Miller added. Still, For the second straight month, tourism-dependent Nevada led the nation in unemployment, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.