Last month, dozens of managers arrived at the union’s offices wearing matching shirts and chanting, “We despise union lies.” Most were not even eligible to join the unit. In the meantime, supervisors at their casinos are choosing sides. The Fertittas are likely to challenge the order to testify until the last moment, Werner says.

“I just want to be treated fairly by a company and have something in writing.” Christian claims the casino stopped letting him serve Frank Fertitta meals once he started wearing a union button on his shirt, even when the billionaire sat in his section.Ī spokesperson for Station Casinos denies that the new benefits were related to the union drive, saying it made “changes before it even knew there was to be an election.” In an appeal to the July ruling, the company called the decision “not only unjust, but also unprecedented.” “They decided to throw the kitchen sink at everybody and not even give detailed information to us to be able to even make an informed vote,” he says. “What the union is saying: the Fertittas made this decision.”Īdam Christian, a union supporter who has been a server at one of Station’s properties for 15 years, believes that many of his co-workers were intimidated into voting no. “It's extraordinary that you would bring in the very, very top person in the company ,” says Bill Werner, an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who researches employment disputes. Much of their wealth, however, lies in a gambling operation founded by their father, which is now the subject of the union-busting allegations. The Fertittas are best known for Ultimate Fighting Championship-the mixed martial arts promoter they sold for more than $4 billion in 2016-and for donating millions of dollars to Donald Trump and his dark-money machine, America First Action. An administrative trial involving some of the claims is underway before a National Labor Relations Board judge. It is just the latest chapter in a complex saga that has played out for a decade. A labor dispute of cartoonish proportions is playing out in Las Vegas, pitting two Trump-supporting casino billionaires against one of the largest private union drives in the country.īrothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have been ordered to testify about allegations that their gaming business, Station Casinos, egregiously tried to undercut labor organizing efforts.

Stations casinos now red rock