Unions certified to represent workers at Trump International Hotel

By J.D. Morris

Published Monday, April 4, 2016 | 12:06 p.m.

Updated Monday, April 4, 2016 | 4:50 p.m.

A federal labor official has certified the Culinary and Bartenders unions as the legal collective bargaining representatives at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, per a recent decision that the hotel was expected to challenge.

The Culinary revealed in a statement today that a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board rejected objections from the hotel to a December election in which a majority of eligible hotel employees voted for union representation.

In the decision dated March 21, the regional director affirmed previous rulings from a hearing officer, which the decision said were “free from prejudicial error.”

“I have considered the evidence and the arguments presented by the parties and … I agree with the hearing officer that all of the Employer’s objections should be overruled,” Regional Director Cornele Overstreet wrote in the decision.

Culinary Workers Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165, both of which are affiliates of the national Unite Here union, have been trying to organize workers at the off-Strip Trump hotel since 2014.

Their efforts panned out in a two-day election in early December, when 238 voters cast ballots in favor of union representation and 209 cast ballots against it, according to the regional director’s decision. In total, 523 voters were eligible.

But the Trump International has pushed back on the results of the election, arguing that it wasn’t a fair process.

For example, Jill Martin, assistant general counsel for the Trump Organization, said in an emailed statement after the hearing officer’s decision that it had “erroneously disregarded the severe misconduct undertaken by union agents, which clearly impacted an incredibly close organization.” Martin said at the time that the Trump Organization would continue its efforts to “ensure a fair election for our valued associates, many of whom vigorously oppose union representation.”

The Culinary said today that the hotel had indicated it would ask the labor board in Washington, D.C., to review Overstreet’s decision. The Culinary said such a review only happens in “limited circumstances.”

Martin could not be reached for comment.

Overstreet’s 10-page decision details a list of objections from Trump Ruffin Commercial LLC, the entity identified as the employer in the case, and agrees with the hearing officer’s previous recommendations to overrule them. Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump are co-owners of the Trump International.

Among the many objections overruled by Overstreet were claims of “objectionable misconduct” from a union election observer and electioneering from committee leaders and union supporters, according to the decision.

Jeffrey Wise, a food server at the Trump International, said in the Culinary’s statement that those who voted for union representation wanted to negotiate a fair contract with Trump.

“We voted and won. Now, it’s time for him to listen to us, the voters, and finally do the right thing by making a deal with his employees,” Wise said in the statement.

Similarly, Geoconda Arguello-Kline, the Culinary’s secretary-treasurer, repeated the union’s call for Trump to “make America great again” by “start(ing) right here in Las Vegas at his hotel.”

Separately, the Trump International also faces a hearing over a complaint that alleges the hotel promised job opportunities to workers who ditched their union support, among other claims. Martin has called the allegations in that complaint “completely without merit.”

The hearing on that matter was supposed to be held April 12 but counsel for the labor board’s general counsel has filed a motion to postpone it until May or June.