Flies in Face of Ongoing Narrative That Labor Can't Win

New York, NY – Late last night UNITE HERE won the biggest NLRB unionization vote in years, when 78% of a nearly thousand person bargaining unit voted to unionize at Green Valley Ranch Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The workers celebrate their win for union protection after the employer, Stations Casino, ran a bitterly anti-union campaign for decades to attempt to block worker organizing. The win, the largest successful NLRB union election victory in many years, occurred in a so-called ‘Right-to-Work’ state no less.

“Today UNITE HERE proves again that not only is the media narrative that labor is dying untrue, but that working people can win against all odds when they organize together, and our union is leading the way nationally for labor to win against even the most vehemently anti-union employers and in states where the deck is stacked against workers,” said D. Taylor, International President of UNITE HERE. “Last night 78% of workers stood up to their boss and had the courage to choose a union and a voice at work, despite the odds and in a state that rigs the laws against workers to take away their power, in the biggest NLRB election victory in recent years. This is a resounding victory for the American labor movement as a whole and a ringing reminder that when workers stand together, they win.”

Both the large size of the bargaining unit and the astoundingly high vote margin make this NLRB election victory remarkable; that it was in a ‘Right-to-Work’ state defies conventional wisdom that labor can not organize in these states. The UNITE HERE election victory comes on the heels of negative national speculation about the future of the American labor movement.   Obviously the win last night shows that workers understand and want unions.

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UNITE HERE represents 270,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in the U.S. and Canada.