Fertitta brothers sentenced to testify over anti-union allegations

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Former UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta are once again facing charges of unfair labor practices stemming from their Las Vegas casino business.

According to The Daily Beast, the Fertitta brothers were ordered to appear before a National Labor Relations Board judge and testify about allegations that their gaming company, Station Casinos, attempted to undermine union organizing efforts. The summons is part of an administrative lawsuit currently pending before the NLRB.

In July 2021, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro issued a ruling ordering Station Casinos to recognize Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, and begin negotiating a contract with approximately 1 350 culinary workers following a contested union vote in 2019 at Red Rock Resorts. , which is owned and operated by Station Casinos.

However, before that vote, Station said it would give employees new benefits, including free health care for workers earning less than $ 41,600 per year or less than $ 20 per hour. Red Rock has further extended its 401 (k) program to offer an hourly membership fee to each worker sponsored employer-sponsored retirement account. According to the NLRB, the express purpose of improving benefits was to undermine union momentum.

Internal communications between Red Rocks executives show that the benefits promised and granted were framed with the stated purpose of undermining the union appeal, and that the announcement of the benefits was tied to anti-union messages and timed to deter the union. ‘union organizing effort, NLRB Regional Director Cornele Overstreet said in the court record.

On August 16, 2021, an NLRB judge denied an attempt by the Fertitta brothers to avoid testifying, stating that their testimony on Station Casinos is essential because they have direct and unique knowledge of the business.

Station Casinos is locked in a decades-long fight with the Culinary Union. The Fertittas, who donated millions of dollars to super PAC Donald Trumps America First Action, were quick to express their distaste for the efforts to organize culinary unions. Before selling their stakes in the UFC at a valuation of $ 4 billion in 2016, the Fertittas even used the UFC as a platform to attack the Culinary Union. When Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Teamsters Local 986, two of the largest unions in the United States, announced their plans to organize fighters into a union in 2015, the UFC pulled out all the stops. unleashed and accused the union of exploiting

Indeed, the UFC spent a lot of time and effort defending itself against this local union’s scandalous allegations of athletes who chose to compete in the UFC, the UFC told MMA Weekly at the time. . It is nothing more than the cheeky new tactic in a futile effort to organize culinary workers at a Las Vegas casino. It is a shame that local union leaders are trying to use UFC athletes as pawns to advance this hidden agenda. UFC fighters.

It’s worth noting that unlike leagues like the NBA or NFL, which share half of their income with players, UFC fighters get less than 20% of the income. In 2019, the promotion grossed $ 900 million in revenue, but only 16% went to UFCs around 600 fighters.

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